Roadblocks
by MyChaosTheory
Summary: Life on the road is harder than it looks. Sometimes, it takes the presence of someone special to tear down the walls and make it all worthwhile. [A co-written collaboration with RunninOnCrazy]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hey everyone! MyChaosTheory here with a new story, being co written by the wonderful RunninOnCrazy! This one is back in our regular ol WWE Universe. I will start us off with the first chapter and I hope everyone enjoys our collaboration. **

* * *

Life on the road could wear thin on anyone. Living out of a suitcase, never having more than a night or two in the same city and spending more time in the air and in cars then on the ground, where home was a host of different hotel rooms that had long since begun to blend together. Family and friends back home were practically strangers, more like guests in life than actual permanent fixtures. Having a significant other? Nearly impossible unless they were right there with you, riding from town to town and state to state. It was a tiring existence, and CM Punk was beginning to grow very, very tired.

The changes in him were happening slowly at first, but it wasn't long before they were starting to become apparent to everyone around him. While the insomniac 'best in the world' could usually be found with dark circles beneath his eyes from lack of sleep, recently they were even more sunken, starting to look more like everlasting bruises. His skin was starting to take on a pasty, slightly yellowed hue, suggestive of spending too much time in darkened arenas and bus rides across the country. His muscles were leaner, with his unnecessarily strict diet stripping his body of even more fat than before. His hair was even more unkempt than usual, often drooping in front of his face in an unruly way.

It wasn't just the physical differences, it was becoming evident in his mood too. The wrestling veteran was frequently in a bad mood (usually in the morning after a night of little sleep), and now his even and more cheerful temperaments were becoming fewer and further between. It wasn't reminiscent of the time before the Summer of Punk though, back when his anger at the company for his mistreatment caused his surliness to know no bounds. No, this time it was different. It was more of a feeling of reservation, shrinking away from the rest of the WWE roster amongst which he could usually count his closest friends. He put on his usual wry smile for fans but in recent weeks he found himself pulling back more and more, disappearing to his bus after his matches without much of word to anyone. He would then try to busy himself with a graphic novel or attempt to tire himself out with pushups or sit ups, but it never worked. His mind was far too active for that, his body too restless.

The day of Battleground was no different. Punk's bus arrived at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, NY around midday, and his whole body was twitchy and agitated after spending too many hours in a prone position. He needed to stretch, run around, do _something_. "Damn," he heard Kofi say gratefully from beside him. The Africa native bounded over all 3 steps leading off the bus, landing gracefully on the pavement below. "It feels so good to be on solid ground again."

"Yeah," Punk agreed distantly as he followed his long time friend and travel partner into the parking lot, his duffel bag slung across his shoulder. "It does." He bounced up and down on his heels, eager to get moving. He wondered if this arena had any sort of gym equipment that would be passable enough for his workout. He was sure he'd been here before, but he couldn't remember. All these arenas started looking the same after awhile, and this one didn't stand out to him. Pulling out his phone, he started looking up the nearest gyms in the area he had memberships at.

"Hey," Kofi said suddenly, "you ok?"

"Huh?" Punk muttered, not looking up from his phone. "Yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

"Well, it's just that you've been acting like a chick on her period for the past… I dunno, few weeks or so?" Kofi answered. "Maybe a month? You opened your mouth maybe twice on the ride here."

Punk chuckled ruefully. "What's wrong honey, do you think we aren't communicating well enough?" he asked, shoving his phone back in his pocket. "Should we go to couples therapy?"

Kofi just rolled his eyes. "Screw me for caring," he sighed, then waved it off. "Working out later?"

"Of course," Punk replied. "Does this place have a gym?"

"Yes Punk, it has a gym," Kofi said. "Do you even read your email? They sent out a notice this morning about it." He jabbed his index finger at Punk's pocket.

"Please, I barely know how to check my e-mail on this thing," Punk grumbled, glancing down at his iPhone. "Besides I usually send anything from Hunter straight to my spam folder."

"Grow up," Kofi groaned good naturedly. Patting him on the back, he beckoned to the looming building in front of them. "Let's get in there. You're gonna spot me, right?"

"Of course I will," Punk replied. "It's my job isn't it? Being the road wife entails spotting."

They headed into the arena together, weaving their way around production trucks in the loading bay to find the employee entrance. It was like a recurring dream, their door was almost invariably in the same place every time. Every week, 4 or 5 days a week. Just thinking about how automatic of a routine it had become for him made Punk sigh a little, pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes for a moment as he and Kofi rounded the corner. Having temporarily blinded himself he didn't even realize until it was too late to pull back that he was going to bump straight into someone.

"I'm sorry, I should have been paying more-"

"My bad, I wasn't looking where I was-"

Both sentences tumbled hurriedly out of the mouths of Punk and his accidental victim as he looked up, realizing the person he'd crashed into was quite smaller than he was. Much smaller, in fact. "AJ," he acknowledged, stepping back with his head hung slightly in shame. "I'm sorry."

The petite diva's champion merely smiled meekly at him, tucking her hair behind her ears before bending to pick up her fallen water bottle, the only casualty of their encounter. "Don't worry about it," she assured him, looking for him to Kofi. "Did you guys just get here?"

"Yeah, we just pulled up," Punk replied, grateful that his favorite geek on the roster wasn't upset. "You guys?" He was slightly surprised at how easy conversation with her came to him, when most of his interactions with everyone else seemed so forced these days.

"Same," she answered. "We would have been here almost half an hour ago, but someone over here just _had _to check 2 different rest stops for his precious sour gummy worms." She shot an accusing glance to her left, where the hulking form of Big E Langston stood.

"Hey, don't act like you were the only one who wanted them," Big E laughed. "You and Kaitlyn had at least half the bag, if not more. You guys owe me replacement gummy worms later."

"We only had them because they were there!" AJ argued with a chuckle. "The time delay was solely your doing, E. Don't try to blame this on me and Kait, because you're gonna lose."

_Pretty laugh_, Punk thought before he could stop himself, then shook his head. _Can't be having those thoughts._ "Well uh, me and Kofi are gonna go work out, so I guess we'll see you guys around later?"

"Yeah." AJ smiled at him again. "We will. Bye, Kofi. Bye, Punk." She waved at them as they passed by.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Kofi turned his attention to Punk again. "Are you _sure _you're ok?" he asked pointedly as they followed the signs to the arena's gym.

"Yeah," Punk replied with a slight frown. "Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Well, usually whenever we run into AJ, you geeks have to have at least a half an hour long conversation about whatever series you're reading," Kofi reminded him. "Or she'll bore you to tears about video games but you'll stand there and listen anyway because you're a good Samaritan."

"Oh come on!" Punk had to laugh. "You act like you don't join in too. Calling us geeks, so are you!"

"Well yeah," Kofi agreed. "But you hurried us out of their way pretty quick, I didn't even get the chance to say hi. That's my point. You're avoiding people. At least everyone you don't ride with anyway."

Punk finally sighed. "Will you just drop it Kofi?" he asked. "Give it a rest already."

"Or what?" Kofi challenged.

"Or I'll start trying to pronounce your last name again." He let out a small laugh and shoved him a little, turning and throwing open the door to the gym and hoping his friend would let it go. He didn't want to talk about the inner workings of his mind, not now or ever.

* * *

"Bye Punk," Big E said dreamily, fluttering his eyelids with a dramatic girly sigh.

"Oh, shut up!" AJ snapped, slapping his arm roughly.

Big E just laughed, barely even feeling it through his layers of borderline impossible muscle. "I love how breathless you get around him," he teased as they started walking. "It's cute really. Like watching a high schooler swoon over the upperclassman baseball team captain. Someone has a crush!"

"I do not," she groused, slapping him again, this time flattening her palm against his shoulder so it left a small sting. "I so do not! Besides, it wouldn't matter if I did. He has a girlfriend."

"So?" he asked with a shrug. "I wasn't suggesting you jump his bones or anything like that. I was just pointing out my 100% completely accurate observation, that's all. But when has a girlfriend stopped you before? Daniel was dating Brie when you guys had your thing last year."

"That was a story and you know that, you moron!" she groaned. "Scripted kisses aren't the same thing!"

"Oh, I know. It's just fun to ruffle your feathers." He winked.

She just rolled his eyes at him as she usually did whenever he said things like that. "Whatever," she said with a small chuckle as they continued in the direction of the catering table, where Kaitlyn waited for them. Oh, why did her big friend and former onscreen protector have to tease her like that? While she definitely wasn't sure about any of the things Big E was hinting at, she did consider Punk a good friend and enjoyed his company. They'd had a great time at the baseball game they'd attended a few weeks ago, when aligning travel schedules made it easier that week for her to hop aboard his bus with Kofi, rather than rent a car with Kaitlyn and Big E and accompany them to Smackdown. He was so easy to talk to, generally laid back and at ease, unlike some of the uptight stiffs she'd encountered during her time at the WWE so far. They had plenty of common interests, too, something she didn't shared with most of the 'divas' she shared a locker room with. And she would probably be lying if she said she _didn't _enjoy some of those on screen kisses they'd shared last year during their story together…

_Stop that_! She scolded herself suddenly. _He's got a girlfriend you idiot, you said it yourself! _And she wasn't just a woman from his hometown, either. No his girlfriend was none other than one of the most famous and revered women wrestlers of all time, one she herself idolized for years and years. One of the most popular videos of herself was one from a decade and a half ago, when as a child she met Amy Dumas at an autograph signing. How could she have those shameful thoughts about the legendary Lita's boyfriend, when AJ herself respected the woman so much?

_You're just being stupid because of what E said, _she thought.

But as the thought of Amy crossed her mind, AJ couldn't help but wonder if the tattooed former women's champ was the source of Punk's distress lately. She definitely wasn't the only one who had noticed how strange and withdrawn he'd been acting recently. Was it relationship troubles that had him in such a personal rut? She wasn't sure if it was her place to ask, or if she was even considered a close enough friend to him to even approach the subject. Or maybe she was worrying for no reason.

_I'm sure he's fine_.

"Sure who's fine?" Kaitlyn asked.

AJ blushed, had she actually said that out loud? "Uh, no one, nothing," she assured Kaitlyn quickly. "So what's on the table here? I'm starving you know. Famished."

"How can you be hungry when we polished off E's gummy worms?" Kaitlyn asked, sending a wink Big E's way as she turned to lead them to the catering table. "But I guess you should eat. You've gotta keep up your strength for your groundbreaking match tonight." She rolled her eyes. "Speaking of that, Tamina texted me a few minutes ago. She'll be here in a few, so she'll be able to eat with us."

AJ sighed almost imperceptibly with relief as she nodded, her slip up had gone mostly unnoticed. She followed Kaitlyn and Big E to an empty table and slid onto the bench, her cheeks still heated slightly. She couldn't worry about him, he was a grown man. He could take care of himself, she had her own problems to deal with… like trying to drag a decent match out of a Bella twin. "Which one am I wrestling again?" she asked with another sigh. "Thing 1 or 2?"

"That would depend on which one thinks of herself as which thing," Big E pointed out with a chuckle.

"I think 2 should be the one with the bigger tits, because it's a bigger number," Kaitlyn decided.

"So then I'm with thing 1," AJ said with a sigh. "Great. Let's hope I don't get a concussion."

"Don't say the C word!" Kaitlyn warned. "That's asking for it."

AJ just laughed. "I'm not superstitious. Concussion, concussion, concussion!"

As Kaitlyn and E started their usual round of teasing about her lack of worthy opponent tonight, AJ just rested her chin on the edge of her palm. While she wouldn't actively admit it to herself, she was distracted this afternoon. Her thoughts were definitely elsewhere at the moment, turned that direction by a chance meeting (or crashing, really) in a back arena hallway.

* * *

**Author's note: And now I hand it off to RunninOnCrazy for her chapter. Hope you guys enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

"You'll snap in half, Philly B."

The familiar voice interrupted Punk's routine pre-match stretch, and when he turned his head upward to find the source, he exhaled a laugh while his longtime colleague stood over him. He bridged out slowly and stood up with a hop before taking the hand and a warm embrace from the bearded favorite of the WWE universe.

"Goatface!" Punk teased as they separated. "Nice to see you, kid," He couldn't help but keep his grin on as Daniel did the same. He'd said time and time again that he and this man were the ultimate underdogs of the WWE. Punk had made himself a legend by being WWE champion with an amazing 434 day reign, dropping pipebombs and proving his best skills in the ring. It made him proud to see the American Dragon making an impact in his own way, as he getting ready to battle Randy for the title and something more. He was fight to earn the respect he should have had all along.

They cackled together before having a seat on available trainer beds, eyeing the wrap up of the Axel and R-Truth contest. "Waiting for your match?" Punk asked as someone helped Daniel stretch.

"Yeah, but I just wanted to catch Brie's match," he exhaled.

Punk chuckled with a frown. "Aww, no wonder there's lipstick on you," he teased with a playful pout. "You wanted to support the wifey."

This made Daniel touch his lips, and groaned at the sight of red. "Not again. I love her, but gross."

Punk laughed. "Glad you two are doing great man," he said. "Any wedding planning?"

"Nope," Daniel quipped, shaking his head swiftly. "Just power couple and travel planning, and Total Divas planning for her. But don't worry, you're invited with a plus one. But she's so focused on tonight."

Punk nodded while they heard the Bella Twins entrance, and observed the sisterly duo make their way to the ring, keeping their smiles and eyes bright. "She should be ok. I mean, she's learned from one of the best so I expect a good match with AJ."

"I know but, I think AJ's made the thing her life," Daniel said while frowning.

Punk observed AJ's entrance to the arena, noticing the loud and decent pop from the Buffalo crowd. She acted perky yet cocky with the beautiful, intimidating and exotic Tamina Sunka on her left. He cracked a smile as she held the heavy silver and pink title around her waist and, as always, skipped gleefully down the ramp. Watching her brought back a zesty memory of her prancing around the ring during his own match, over a year ago now. She'd stood on a turnbuckle with a table beside the ring, which caused him to follow her in an attempt to talk her down, only to get a kiss out of the blue and a rough shove in return. He'd toppled back into Daniel, sending them both crashing into the table below.

For some reason, that kiss (and the much longer one that happened the next night) lingered in his mind as well as on his lips, even when he had to watch AJ kiss Ziggler for the majority of the last year. The kisses they displayed during their story line just appeared crude and completely forced, likely because she didn't really feel anything with Dolph (or Daniel for that matter). When she kissed him, it seemed as if she just went with the flow she liked. He'd be lying if he said it was bad.

Punk stopped himself from thinking about that 4th of July night as the ref held the title high. He was just glad AJ wasn't kissing anyone anymore, but the reasons why were something no one could know.

"Every time she skips, it's still kind of haunting," Daniel teased while Punk chuckled, happy that great minds still thought alike. "It should be a great match. AJ's really good in the ring."

"Don't let the lady here you say that," Punk warned. "I know AJ's never been her cup of tea."

Daniel shook his head with a frown. "Yeah, but we're over that," he explained. "Brie just wants to be the best now and if a match with the champ proves it, so be it." He shrugged. "Also, that storyline kinda strengthened our relationship once she could see that AJ wasn't really that into it because of me. It's just work, and she respects it."

"Agreed," Punk said. "No reason to be jealous unless you like insecurity weaseling into your relationship. But you wouldn't be engaged if that was the case, so good for you."

"Speaking of relationships, how's Amy?" Daniel asked. "I haven't seen her around lately. I thought she'd be with you tonight since she wasn't with you touring last month."

Punk inhaled sharply and looked at the TV, shaking his head before answering, "she had plans. She's spending time with family." He brushed off with a small wave of his hand. "But it's all good. I'll still kick Ryback the Dino into the stone age again."

"Good attitude," Daniel accepted with a nod. "But anyway, I always thought AJ brought something different to the table. And Brie always puts on a good match with her."

Punk agreed silently as the bell rang. He was the first to admit openly that he was a fan of AJ Lee, inside and outside the ring. She had passion, intelligence, optimism, and the skills to be in the ring and survive. The most attractive thing to her over one million fans was her clear adoration for the business of wrestling and the fact that she'd made her childhood dreams come true without being something she wasn't. Her role as a heel was showing everyone her power and intelligence, and most wrestling marks found that sexy (they weren't alone in those thoughts, but he'd never tell anyone that).

Honorably, he didn't want to hurt Daniel's feelings by speaking his piece about his girlfriend's show, but he found the concept of Total Divas to be a complete joke. Some people didn't seem to understand what hard work it took to stay in this company and have a lasting career. For a woman, it was multiplied and could be over in less than five years. In a way, the cast was falsely glamorizing what it was like for a Diva in the WWE. That, and reality shows seemed to be the thing to do to save your dying career or make the good one you have widely public.

But AJ understood it, and she didn't need the show. He never questioned that, and it wouldn't surprise him if she were asked to do the show and turned it down. She was where she always wanted to be and that was being the holder of the division prized title.

"Yeah, I mean, for someone so small, AJ's proven to be just as great of an asset to the division without fitting the standard," Punk expressed while Daniel sat up. "We both know what that's like."

"Yeah, but it just seems like she's pushing herself to prove something and hurting herself in the process," Daniel added.

"Listen man, you remember the circuit," Punk reminded him. "The girls and guys there did far more crazy shit than tattooing their title win on them." He snickered as Daniel scoffed.

"I'm not talking about the tattoo," Daniel explained. "I'm not one to judge her decisions like that. But Brie said something about her elbow being a bit shot after her match with Trinity."

"Is that what the brace is for?" Punk asked as AJ pulled a quick move on Brie, and then slammed the star of Total Divas' body into the turnbuckle. They winced together as Brie hit the floor outside. But then he shrugged at the action. "Clearly she's not showing it."

"She's a great worker with good skills but she should be careful. I did have a hand in those skills during our partnership," Daniel gloated with a pat to his own back, and this time it was Punk's turn to scoff.

"Yeah right," Punk laughed. "You just remember that she dropped a pipebombshell. She didn't grow a beard. Clearly, we know who the better teacher is."

After AJ tossed Brie into the corner, she took the time to showboat and prance to the sound of her cheers. She ran to throw herself on her opponent too fast and once Brie moved, she hit her head on the turnbuckle and bounced back, giving Brie momentum briefly before AJ went on the attack and forced her to the ground.

"That looked really off," one trainer muttered to another while organizing his station. "Looks like she hit her head on the post."

Punk noticed how winded AJ look as they slipped up on a roll up, but they kept the momentum going as Brie delivered a running knee to her. Tamina started choking Nikki with a hold, dragging her around and causing Brie to eye them in concern. AJ took advantage of the distraction and rolled the twin into a pin. After the three count, AJ rolled out the ring and left Brie shocked and disappointed with defeat.

Punk noticed how Daniel's disappointment matched his fiancé's and clapped a comforting hand on his friend's back. "She'll get it next time man. I'm sure."

Daniel smirked with a shrug. "I know," he replied. "But once I get my title back, she'll just be happy enough. I'm gonna go see how she's doing." He stood up, patting Punk back before adding, "Give 'em hell as always man."

Punk chuckled with a nod and watched the replay of AJ's win, realizing that Daniel might have made a very valid discovery about the champion. And it was actually concerning him.

* * *

"AJ, let's go to the trainer's room."

AJ shoved Kaitlyn out of the way as she and Tamina entered the Divas locker room, "I'm fine!" she protested. "I just…I have to sit." She exhaled before crashing into a couch while on the screen in front of her, Randy Orton took on Daniel Bryan, AJ found a spot on the couch, trying to see the action. Some of the other girls noticed how AJ looked more exhausted than normal after a match, and how a simple attempt to make it backstage was hard for their fellow diva. After winning, she normally boasted herself jokingly and packed up to leave with Kaitlyn, but this time, she just looked out of it and not in her character form either.

Tamina rolled her eyes while looked at her. "AJ, Kaitlyn's right. You kinda missed the turnbuckle at one point."

"I…I didn't…." AJ dropped her belt on the floor, yanking her ruffled pigtail out and running her hands over her head with a sigh. "I don't remember doing that….or how I got a roll up on thing one….and can you turn the TV down? It's loud." She groaned and rubbed her forehead.

Rosa Mendes frowned a little while pressing the button on the TV. "Chica, it's on low," she said as AJ sat back and looked up.

"See, sensitivity to noise is a sign," Kaitlyn reminded her. "So let's go see if it's a C word." She nodded at Tamina to help her up.

Still AJ refused, and almost hit the floor, which made most if the girls get up to help. "AJ, seriously, you really don't look so hot," Alicia Fox stated, frowning as she and Summer Rae walked over.

"You know Vickie's going to check on you then send you, so you need to make her job and presence less annoying," The leggy blonde dance partner to Fandango added, causing everyone to nod in agreement.

AJ looked around and frowned. "I didn't think I jumped that high."

"Sounds like someone should just watch what they're doing," someone teased from the far corner of the room. The other Divas eyed the red haired rookie Eve Marie as she stood up and folded her hands, tilting her head with a sarcastic smile for her anti-Total Divas nemesis. "Don't worry, if you can't work with the big girls anymore, I'm sure Brie will make the work lighter for you during the next match."

AJ bowed her head in annoyance while picking up her title, frowning wickedly before adding, "Until you know how to do a properly timed clothesline, or who's in 3MB, you still don't exist to me." She slung the title over her shoulder and walked out the room with Tamina.

Eva's face fell while Summer Rae and Rosa cackled without shame or sympathy. "P'owned," Alicia hummed as they followed her out the door, leaving the fuming diva alone.

As soon as they entered the backstage halls, the sight of the tattooed straight edge superstar AJ shared a short conversation with earlier caught her by surprise and delight. He entered the trainers' office himself, limping a little with sweat glistening his tattoo-canvassed body. She not only felt a headache come along, but now her stomach started jumping and her heart race just a beat more. He locked eyes with her as she walked in and felt shy again. The way Punk's tainted green eyes shined in the dimmest of lights, or how his lips curved a small smile for her just made her stomach flip even more.

_For the love of Batman, get a grip. He's just a man, _she thought to herself, relieved that her colleagues didn't hear her as she entered the room.

"April?" The resident WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann smiled as AJ entered. "You alright? What can I do for you?"

"Um..I..think I struck my head on the turn buckle during my match. Now I have a massive headache."

"I had to practically carry her to the back, and she kept wobbling off balance," Tamina added, showing some concern for AJ as well.

"Yeah, I guess I didn't spot myself…" AJ skipped around with her words, and soon, it was clear that the rumble in her stomach had nothing to do with the sight of Punk ogling her. She was nauseous because the room kept spinning every time she entered one.

The proof of her gummy worm bingeing with Big E, coffee from a local WAWA, and the catering's variety of options all spilled out into a nearby waste basket. Tamina and Kaitlyn both gasped in shock as AJ vomited, displaying her weakness while she coughed it up. Kaitlyn took the belt from her hands as some of the staff helped her into a lounge bed, avoiding the mess before them.

"Whoa, AJ, you alright?" Punk asked as he leaned his head in, frowning with concern over what he just heard (she prayed it wasn't from disgust, because she already felt embarrassed).

"Yeah, my stomach just had a whole lot to say," she teased while pointing to the basket.

"Okay AJ, look forward for me," The physician instructed as AJ opened her eyes, trying her best to follow the little guiding light, but that made it worse. "What's the last thing you recall from tonight?"

AJ hung her head in shame as Punk just eyed her, concerned along with everyone else. "I remember getting to the ring and choking Brie neck first. Everything else is in pieces to be honest."

"You're showing signs of dizziness, nausea by vomiting, and your memory is off," Dr. Amann noted as he nodded to one of his staff. "Jack, get Maddox in here for me so I can inform him of this. AJ, this looks like a concussion, I'm afraid."

AJ slowly blinked as Kaitlyn sharply inhaled. "Well, then note to self," she sighed, "saying concussion in an arena is a hundred times worse than Blood Mary in the mirror."

Her comment made Punk snort with amusement as Dr. Amann brought over an ice pack. "You're wearing contacts, so remove those. I need someone to get her bags and go to her hotel immediately. She shouldn't be on her feet or doing anything else for the night."

"Not even riding in a car?" Kaitlyn asked apprehensively. "We were planning on driving to Pittsburgh right after this was over. I have an appearance in the morning, so I just booked a room there and she was going to stay with me."

"She needs to rest until then," Dr. Amann said. "She can't be active…"

"So what, I can't wrestle tomorrow?" AJ asked with a puckered brow, not happy about the update at all. "This is not what I need right now."

"I know it's bad, but you should rest this off until I further evaluate you before the show. That means no exercise, headphones, computers or video games, " the doctor intoned but AJ scoffed as he directed her. "You can rest it out here until it's time to go."

"No, she can come on my bus." Everyone stopped and turned to Punk, whose presence was largely forgotten until he declared himself. "She shouldn't be in a car for three hours or alone right now."

"Right, and she has me so, she'll be fine," Kaitlyn said with a hint of assurance in her voice, not sure why Punk was showing this much concern.

"Look, I've had this more than once, and trust me, she'll be doing more vomiting in a car that's weaving back and forth on the highway," Punk explained.

"So being on an empty bus with you is better because you have a toilet?" Tamina questioned defensively.

Punk shrugged nonchalantly. "Look she needs to rest somewhere that's safe and quiet," he responded. "I don't have a rock band on my bus, just comics and a high flying Celtic fan. Besides, it's not like AJ has an issue with riding with me. I just want to help."

Kaitlyn's eyes squinted as she eyed Punk with skepticism. "I'm positively sure someone important in your life doesn't like it…or never has for that matter," she sassed, making Punk frown.

"Kaitlyn don't….just don't worry about that," AJ spoke up while covering her eyes.

Punk stood by with a grimace as Kaitlyn observed AJ still with a hint of worry. She then detected the generosity Punk was extending to her best friend to be not only normal, but increased this time. She didn't know if the Undertaker knocked all his cells back in the right place, or if he felt bad for ignoring the friendship they developed after the whole Love Triangle storyline. She thought he backed off because he didn't care for it, yet now more than ever, his soft spot for the diva's champion could be seen oozing from the skin beyond his ink.

He was still a jerk most of the time. His standoffish attitude, abrasive temper towards those who pushed all the wrong buttons and lack of communication or care for those working with him were just a few of the things that proved it. Yet the fact that this had nothing to do with him, and Punk was still offering AJ a ride on the CM Punk Express, confused her extensively. But safety was first and Big E did need to listen to his Kendrick Lamar CD and liked to blast the air condition to stay awake on the highway.

"Either way, AJ can't be alone. So figure it out guys." Tamina declared with her arms folded.

"What do you say Doc?" Punk asked as Amann just sighed, looking over at Kaitlyn.

"I really don't want her even riding in a car or driving, and she does need to rest properly if she's going to be reevaluated again," Dr. Amann explained.

Kaitlyn still looked concerned while Punk placed a hand on his chest. "Look, why don't you let me know when you've arrived, and I'll bring her to Pittsburgh right after. I'll even make sure she eats, she doesn't go on twitter or picks up the controller."

Kaitlyn sighed while bowed her head. "Ok um…I'll get your stuff together right now."

"You're so awesome," AJ muttered with a light smile. "I should really stop slapping you." Kaitlyn smiled while placing her ice bag on her tanned forehead, then walked out behind Tamina after she wished AJ well. She tried to tilt to get a visual on Punk, but he just stood by with a smile on as always. Damn that wicked smirk. Now her stomach was fluttering with nothing in it. Just stupid, girly feelings.

"I guess you missed the scent of Warm Vanilla Sugar body butter on this bus huh?" AJ teased.

"Shut up," Punk glowered as he re-entered the cabin of his bus, falling into his seat of home away from home with a sigh.

"How is she?" Kofi asked, standing over the fridge with a bottle of Vitamin Water for him and Punk.

"She's just getting dressed and talking to her sister," Punk answered. "She might have to go to Tampa if she's not feeling better by tomorrow."

Kofi shook his head. "That blows. She loves working."

"I know," Punk agreed. "I told to just rest while we drive on. You don't mind that she's here right?"

"Well I don't own this bus so it's not my place to say," Kofi chuckled in response. "No I don't man. You know AJ's cool in my books. I like her. " He looked at his road wife, then pouted playfully. "Don't worry. I know she's just a friend honey. I'm not jealous."

"Good to know dear," Punk replied with smirk as they felt the trailer move. Kofi stood up to help AJ once she entered the front area herself. Punk stood up while she slowly sat on in his seat, taking a sounding and tense breath as he searched for something she could drink.

"Thanks," AJ whispered while trying at crack a smile, but the guys knew she was really down about this injury.

"What did she say?" Punk asked respectfully.

"Same old," AJ sighed. "I should have been careful, I'm lucky I'm not in the hospital, but she's just happy I still kicked ass. Oh and Nacho is starting to bark every time Brie beats me up which clearly proves I'm missed." She tried to be humorous, which made the guys laugh with her.

She then eyed Punk, letting her smile warmly grow as he snorted lightly. "I didn't think you'd be worried enough to help but, thanks." She added.

"No problem half pint," he said with a growing grin of his own. Even with an injury, her smiled remained luminous, and that made him feel at ease and oddly giddy on the inside. The bad mood he was in earlier seemed to have been forgotten. As if having her around was just what he needed to feel content with what life was throwing his way lately.

"Well, I'm going to take a bunk and call it a night," she said and Kofi and Punk both nodded, still seeing the hint of sadness and worry in her eyes as well as the symptoms of her conditions.

"You can take my bed you know?" Punk asked as she frowned. "I mean, it's not like I use it much so, feel free to roll around in it." With his encouragement he didn't see the eye of disbelief from Kofi behind, but he was relieved at AJ's soft bow of the head.

"I guess I will, if you really don't mind it."

"I don't," he confirmed hastily. "I just promised you a place to rest so you can be comfortable and fine. I know you'll get better." Punk said assumingly while Kofi agreed.

"I hope so." AJ looked over and smiled. "Just make me laugh or something. Like how you think you're well enough to beat me in WWE 2k14. That's a great joke to tell."

Leaving him with an upside down smile, she entered his room and leaned against the door as Kofi chuckled lightly, "Nice, now I really don't mind having you on board," He admitted before putting on his headphones and turning his attention to the computer.

"Glad to see the snarky and humorous side of you is still very much intact," Punk admitted, watching her giggle before closing the door. His light chuckle filled the room which was a sure sign that her presence made him feel so much better about the ending to this night.

* * *

**Author's note: Well now it is back to MyChaosTheory for the next chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter 3

The vibe on Punk's bus was one he wasn't used to. There was a feeling of ease and comfort in the air, rather than the usual stinging silence that hung between him and Kofi as he would put on his headphones and shut himself off from the world while trying settle into a restless sleep. In years past he didn't ignore his travel partner, it had only been since returning from his post-Wrestlemania hiatus that his soured mood would cause him to shut out one of his best friends completely. Now they barely talked between cities. But tonight was different. Kofi seemed content in front of his computer, bopping his head slowly to the beat pouring out through his headphones, and Punk himself felt almost… relaxed.

He pondered this thought as he lowered his weary body onto the couch that was bolted to the floor of the bus. Why was he in such an uncharacteristically good mood? Perhaps it had something to do with his Good Samaritan act from earlier, taking the injured diva's champion under his wing for the night. Lately he didn't derive in much joy from helping people (why bother, was his logic, when all they did was step on him?), but tonight it felt good, especially when everyone else questioned his motives. Maybe this warm feeling, the feeling of being needed, would be enough to lull him to sleep.

His eyes were beginning to drift shut when he suddenly realized he still had his tights on underneath his shorts. He groaned as he sat up, knowing he couldn't very well stay in them all night, his skin would be rubbed raw in the morning if he did. Sighing, he made his way through the bus and past Kofi to the bedroom in the back, knocking on the door. "AJ?" he called softly. He was met with silence, so he knocked again. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I forgot to get my clothes and I need to change out of my ring gear." Nothing. After another moment with no response, he eased the door open a little. Leaning through the door he saw her curled up on his bed, the blanket pulled up to her shoulders and her soft tresses of brown hair fallen across her face. He couldn't hold back the small smile that began to spread across his face, staring down at her peaceful resting form.

Wait, sleeping? No, she had a concussion! She couldn't fall asleep! He rushed into the room and around the side of the bed, crouching down and hurriedly shaking her arm. "AJ?" he asked worriedly. "AJ come on, wake up. You need to wake up! Come on!" He could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

It felt like ages had passed before she finally opened her eyes, her eyelids fluttering for a moment before revealing the usually bright brown hue beneath them. "Huh?" she muttered tiredly, sitting up with a soft yawn. "What's… what's going on?"

"You've got a concussion," he reminded her urgently. "You can't fall asleep."

"But I'm tired," she whined, leaning back against the pillows with a sigh. He couldn't help but think of how fragile and innocent she looked right now, wrapped in his big fluffy blanket.

"Sorry," he said, "but it's doctor's orders. You need to be awake for at least a few more hours. Falling asleep with a concussion is really dangerous." He chuckled. "After how many I've had, I should know."

"How am I going to stay awake?" she sighed, rubbing her eyes with a frown. "I'm exhausted, Punk."

"Well, then I'm just gonna have to stay here and keep you up," he replied suddenly, surprised at his own generosity. He was exhausted too, but he couldn't let her get hurt, especially not after defending his intentions to Tamina and Kaitlyn earlier. He needed to take good care of her… and not just for himself.

"Oh, you don't have to," she assured him with a small smile. "I'll be ok. I'll just… listen to music."

"No music either, unfortunately," he informed her sadly.

"What?" she groaned, smacking the mattress beneath her with frustration. "Damn it, concussions suck! I can't do anything, _and _I need a freaking babysitter. " Then she blushed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. You're letting me stay on your bus and I'm being an ungrateful jerk."

He just laughed, her nervousness slightly amusing her. "Relax," he told her calmly. "Irritability, it comes with the territory with concussions. I'm used to it. Shit, I'm pretty much always an irritable old bastard." He laid back next to her, trying to relax. He needed to get his mind past the fact that he was casually lying in bed with any woman, let alone the young, ambitious spitfire that was the diva's champion.

"How come you know so much about concussions anyway?" she asked him curiously.

"I already told you," he answered with a chuckle. "I've had them."

"Oh." She frowned, looking down at her lap. "I don't remember."

"That's ok," he assured her. "Like I said, comes with concussion territory. Yeah, I've had a few in my day, including the big one, it was more than a concussion. I cracked my whole skull open."

"Really?" she exclaimed, keen with both interest and concern. "How? What happened?"

"Oh, it was a crazy spot," he explained. "Back in IWA. Landed pretty rough. I had to use a chair to make it to the back. The guys wanted to call me an ambulance, but Colt- you know Colt Cabana right?- said it probably wasn't serious and that he would drive me to the hospital… till I threw up on the floor and all over his shoes and passed out. He wasn't too happy about that."

"That's crazy!" she squealed, then winced slightly in pain, her own tone of voice aggravating her headache. "What happened after that?" She scooted closer to him, clearly eager to hear the rest.

He only just barely managed to keep the smile off his face. "Well after I puked all over my best friend, they had to call me an ambulance," he continued. "I didn't want them to because I didn't have health insurance and paying for it was going to suck, but I could barely speak clearly. 10 hours later they discharged me from the hospital with a prescription for pain pills that I never filled, and I hopped on the first flight home to Chicago, against medical advice of course. My sisters set up a little dungeon of a room for me to recover in, with dark curtains and stuff. I pretty much slept almost nonstop. Doctors wanted me to recover for a year… I was in a 60 minute iron man match a month later." He smirked.

Her response was a swift slap to his thigh. "So you get to ignore doctor's orders and almost kill yourself, but I have to stay awake?" she asked. "That isn't fair!"

"It's fair," he argued, rubbing the now stinging spot on his skin. "Your health is important."

"And yours isn't?" she protested, tilting her head at him.

"Back then it wasn't," he replied quietly. "Look, it doesn't matter. My bus, my rules, which means you're staying wide awake until you stop groaning at every loud noise."

"No fair," she mumbled, but she leaned back against the pillows again in acceptance. "So then what are we supposed to do until his majesty Best in the World lets me sleep?"

"I'd say you could kick my ass in Street Fighter for maybe the… 1,000th time, but that's not an option either," he said with a small, amused laugh as he watched her brow knot with annoyance. For some reason, the mired frustration present in her expression was almost… cute.

"So really, our only option is to talk and talk and talk until we get sick of each other's voices," she said.

"I'm already sick of you," he teased.

She shoved him. "Shut up."

* * *

AJ didn't imagine it would be so easy to pass the time like this with anyone (especially in her sleepy, post-concussion haze), but before she knew it hours had passed as they rolled along in his bus. It was 2:30 in the morning now and she was still laughing with the second city saint, sitting back comfortably against the pile of pillows he provided for her while he laid back on his side, propped up on one elbow.

"Ok, best super power," Punk offered. It was a game they'd been playing for awhile now, ever since he'd pointed out the Wonder Woman T-shirt she was wearing. They went through their favorite universes (Marvel or DC), favorite Justice League and Avengers members, best origin story… The WWE's resident super nerds were going toe to toe on this one, as much bonding as showing off their knowledge.

"Are you sure we haven't done this one?" AJ chuckled. "It sounds familiar. And don't try to use short term memory loss against me! I'm not _that _severely injured, you know."

"I promise we haven't," he assured her. "I wouldn't take advantage of you like that."

"Please," she muttered in amusement. She didn't think Punk would be above using her concussion to best her in this little back and forth they were having. "Ok then. I'm going to say… flight."

"What?" he asked with a laugh. "Flight? But that completely takes Batman out of the equation!"

"Batman doesn't have any powers," she reminded him.

"Oh yes he does," he informed her. "He has the most important power of all, actually. Having money. It's not easy being a billionaire you know. You could say the same thing about Iron Man."

"But he still can't fly," she argued. "Not by himself. The cape helps him glide, but he can't get himself to the other side of the planet to fight evil as quickly as Superman or Wonder Woman or Green Lantern."

"Maybe not," he agreed, "but who do you think is hosting the Justice League Christmas parties every year? Batman, that's who. In his sprawling mansion. Heat vision doesn't buy the turkey."

"You've been arguing for Batman the whole time," she pointed out curiously, dramatically stroking her chin as though she was deep in thought. "What's your love affair with him anyway? Is it the dark origin story that attracts you so much? The deep loner personality?" Her smile widened with each time she teased him. They'd been making fun of each other all night, and she was enjoying any time she got to take a little dig at him (he was the master at this, after all).

But instead of shooting back at her with his usual sharp wit, Punk responded in an uncharacteristically somber tone. "Maybe," he said distantly, shifting to lie back flat on the bed with his arms crossed behind his bed. Staring up at the ceiling, he chuckled harshly. "Maybe it's the whole no parents thing you know? Mine aren't dead, but they might as well be."

AJ frowned. Like almost everyone else on the roster, she had caught wind of the most recent fiasco with Punk's biological family. She felt so bad for him when she heard he'd been forced to take out a restraining order against his parents, she couldn't imagine having such an unsupportive family. Her own mother and father had always taught her to strive to achieve her dreams and be the very best she could be. She wasn't sure she would have made it this far without their love and encouragement. After he'd sacrificed so many hours of much needed sleep to stay awake with her, she knew she couldn't just let him retreat sadly back into his own little world again.

"Hey, don't fade out on me," she urged, scooting over to shove him a little. "You're supposed to be keeping _me _awake, remember? Crack a smile for me already, you punk! Come on, longest reigning WWE champ of the modern era with at least 20 new shirts on the shop website so far this year. I think you've done pretty damn well for yourself, parents or no parents! Not to mention landing who is easily one of the most gorgeous, talented ladies to ever hit the women's division. "

She watched throughout her whole little speech as his lips twisted into something of a grin, but by the time she was finished speaking it was gone again. She frowned again, watching him stare off blankly. What was it about what she'd said that hit a sore spot? It couldn't have been anything about his championship reign or the multitude of T-shirts. Was it the crack about his parents? Or… Amy?

That's when it dawned on her, she hadn't seen Amy in quite awhile now. While she didn't always accompany Punk on tour (she had her own projects going on, after all), at one time she could often be found on the tattooed superstar's arm at RAW and other events. But it had been at least a month, maybe even a little more than that since she could remember seeing the former member of Team Xtreme backstage. Maybe that was the secret behind Punk's sidetracked, upsetting behavior and mood lately. Was he having relationship problems, she wondered?

As she looked after him with concern, she wondered whether or not it would be a good idea to ask him about her suspicion. Probably not, she decided. She didn't want to seem like she was prying or attempting to be nosy, especially when he'd selflessly offered both his bus and his company to her in her time of need. So with a soft sigh she laid back against the pillows again.

"Do you think it's safe for me to sleep yet?" she asked him quietly.

He was silent for a moment, fishing his phone out of his pocket to check the time. It was nearly 3 AM. "I guess so," he answered finally. "I'm probably gonna wake you up in a few hours though. Just to be sure."

"Ok." She yawned and turned onto her side, expecting the bed to shift as he got up and headed out of the room, but the mattress remained still. Lifting her head to glance over she found that he was still there, sprawled out on the end of the bed. His eyes were shut and one of his arms was crossed over his stomach, his hand still curled around his phone. His deep, even breathing told her he'd fallen asleep.

She couldn't help but let out a small, muted chuckle. "Night, Punk," she whispered, closing her eyes.

* * *

**Author's note: And it's off to RunninOnCrazy for chapter 4. Until next time folks!**


	4. Chapter 4

Once news of her incident reached the officials, Punk found Brad waiting for AJ with arms crossed and Dr. Armann standing by in the set up trainer's room. Since she couldn't recap her championship contest with Brie or walk a straight line for the doctors, the Raw GM laid out AJ's fate for the day, and possibly for a month's end. The last person she knew who heard the words 'go home until further notice' lost their championship a week after returning.

Everyone witnessed how hurt Dolph looked when he lost his title, and now the thought of losing hers made her head and heart ache while she entered Punk's bus with him behind her.

Punk watched her every move and noticed the disappointment in her eyes as she started to pack up her things, clearly not glad about getting the extra day. Brad actually tried his best to court the titleholder with words of encouragement, saying that he believed AJ would be missed for the night and he would have just had her ringside. Punk agreed with that suggestion, but he knew Brad couldn't make that call. AJ didn't really point fingers or force him to change it. She couldn't blame the doctors for being concerned. Oddly, she didn't blame Brie for moving at the right time during the match. Punk saw that she blamed herself for slipping up when she knew concussions were not taken lightly. Now she was out of the equation and headed back to Tampa without anyone to help her out. All her friends and co-workers were prepping themselves work on a show she loved to be a part of.

As a man who made the wrestling ring his second home, Punk could understand why it affected her. The pair spotted Nattie, Jojo and Eva talking in the makeup area, getting glammed and ready while the cameras kept rolling on them. An official from booking was with them, and AJ stormed off in anger once the red head one jumped up with her little sidekick in excitement, which could only mean one thing: they were going to a match that AJ would have been a part of if she wasn't injured.

The idea of her going home miserable and alone didn't sit right with him at all. His thoughts fluttered back to last night and made him perk up lightly. Punk actually had fun and shared a long conversation with her, despite his sudden shut down (which he mentally punched himself for when he woke up). The last time Punk felt so inviting and comfortable with someone he worked with was hard to remember, and that comfort might have been his reason for sleeping in bed with AJ. Also, sharing common interest was something he can't just do with just anyone. AJ's presence played a part in his sudden comfort on this bus…and in his life.

Clearly, he wasn't going to just let that go.

"AJ?" Punk called out as he entered his mobile bedroom, waiting for AJ to turn to him. She smiled warmly as he spoke to her. "Hey, looking for your gear? I mean, I'm really good at finding an appropriate pair of shorts."

"I don't doubt those powers for a second," AJ snorted lightly while taking a seat on the bed, watching him join her, inked hands in his hoodie and eyes on hers with a calm gaze. "But, I'm making sure everything is in my bag and that I didn't leave things here. I don't want to make your bus girly."

Punk looked on with creased eyebrow. "I don't have a problem with that. I mean, the scent of vanilla and sugar is unfamiliar but, I can totally get used to it. Better than the old spice crap Kofi uses."

"Well, you have to deal with the smell of your own Axe and aftershave now and keep Kofi's grooming products out of your bedroom," she said with a long sigh, smiling weakly as she stood tall to finish packing. "This fucking sucks." She muttered it in a way that caught Punk off guard and amused him.

"Wow, one night on the Punk Mobile and you're already cursing up a storm?" he teased. "I never believed it before, but I guess I am a bad influence."

AJ looked back and frowned with a smirk. "Oh, you're the worst," she agreed playfully while he snorted. "You're the guy mom always told me to stay away from."

"The good ones do love a bad boy," he sighed dramatically, humoring her to get an infectious giggle out of her. "The term 'hard to resist' is the code I live by, you know." Once he took a deep breath, she turned her body to him again, watching as he stood up with a tilted head. "You brought a ticket home?"

AJ shook her head lightly. "No, but I should do that now," she admitted. "I can pick it up at the airport and they promised to reimburse me…."

"Don't buy it yet," he said quickly, looking at his phone with a nod. "As soon as I down this energizing juice, Ron and I win our match, I'll go with you."

AJ raised an eyebrow after understanding his suggestion. "Um… I'm sorry, what?"

He turned away to enter the front, opening the fridge and getting out his tumbler to drink from. "Well, in this traveler here, I drink this juice, which contains a lot of vitamins and it's made with wheatgrass…"

"No not the part about you drinking your juice thing," AJ said while closing her eyes. "I need to go back to Tampa…in Florida."

"I know where Tampa is," he said, not taking his eyes off his phone as she scoffed.

"Yeah but…" AJ stumbled out while he started drinking up. "I mean, don't get me wrong. Chicago's great but I should just go home and relax until I can get tested or something."

"I know," he replied. "But you need someone to escort you home, and it wouldn't be right of me to just bring you here and let you go alone." Gasping lightly, he waved his phone to her, "And you're in luck, Kofi's riding with Curt Hawkins to Smackdown, so we can just leave tonight. We'll be there by the afternoon." He snapped his fingers while AJ folded his arms. "Should I stop at the Performance Center in Orlando too?"

"Punk listen, I don't want to inconvenience you anymore than I already have," AJ confessed sheepishly, hearing Punk moan in understanding. "You don't have play babysitter on your day off and you should go home. Besides, there's nothing in Tampa for us to do. I'm quite boring, actually. I don't really go out and I spend most of the time making Nacho watch Mob Wives or Miami Monkey-"

"AJ," he called out, putting an abrupt stop to her rambling. He walked up to her, leaned over slightly and passed her a content smirk. "I'm sure I can have fun with you."

"Really?" she questioned, eyeing him with a hint of fear and fondness. As he stood close to her, he noticed how her big, brown, and beautiful eyes kind of shined his way. From the day she introduced herself as a rookie on NXT, those eyes gleamed every time he looked at her and he actually… he quite liked it. It was beyond hypnotizing and he knew why, yet he could tell she didn't want to feed into it.

"Positive, I mean, you are the champ," he boasted. "And in that contract, you get to have a personal day and do what you fucking please." It was enough to make her smile. "I don't mind taking you. Tampa's nice. Its south so it's warm, you have the beach to walk on, and the food is good in certain places, not to mention the people I know who make it fun. Plus, I like hanging out with people happen to live there now." He emphasized the last sentence with this intense focus on her presence.

"I do live close to the water," she whispered, bowing her head and blushing once he nodded. "Fine, I'll stay. But just know I'm reading your Green Arrow Comics while you're out there."

Punk's smile fell as she re-entered the bedroom. "Um…you should just watch the show and not read my comics before I do," he advised nervously.

"I can't be around loud noises, doctors' orders," she explained, looking excited as she resurfaced with notebook in her hand. "Never mind about the comics. I'll just make a list of hairstyles you can have next." Punk bowed his head with a smirk as she sat opposite Kofi's chair. "This Zac Efron mop look isn't you, so we need to strategize."

After dropping his tumbler into the sink, he accepted the insult with a soft smirk as he walked past her. "Great, so I'll handle my wrestling duties, and in the meantime, you can think of super powers that aren't shitty and basic to have," He called over his shoulder. AJ rolled her eyes as he snickered lightly, and before he could go out, he turned to her as she looked back. "Hey um…you should read them…if you want. Just try and relax alright?"

"Sure thing!" AJ beamed at him before she turned around to start writing. "Give em hell, Wolverine."

He left her alone, and he suddenly began to think of the plans he just made with her. Did he really just volunteer to drive 17 long hours south, just to bring her home? He couldn't remember the last time he did that for a friend (not even for Kofi; usually the African native took a plane home after their weekly journeys). The direction this relationship with AJ was going in brought him into new and very unusual territory. This helping hand act he decided to put on was certainly different, and yet it made him feel more than noble. Even with a head injury, this plan made AJ happy, and the sight of her smiling made the expedition he'd just signed himself up for it all worth it.

Punk needed more than a distraction from what was happening in the background of his life right now. AJ could just be that perfect distraction, more than that, someone who he genuinely enjoyed being around even as the words that came out of his mouth continued to confuse. She was someone that could very well make his life on the road worth enjoying again.

She could have those Green Arrow comics, he decided suddenly. She would enjoy them more than he would. The person who picked them up at a recent convention appearance for him would probably have sucked his enjoyment out of them anyway.

* * *

The life of April J. Mendez kept getting weirder. Like, reaching the border of the twilight zone weird.

Now, AJ didn't really have an issue with being sent home. It was really unfair, but it was protocol. When you're injured, you're sent home to heal until further notice. That was how it was done, to ensure her safety and the safety of her co workers. She understood that she couldn't do anything psychically on Raw, but the amount of times she'd watched Nikki Bella hop around on crutches to the ring in support of her sister and into John's locker room just ticked her off about it. She guessed having a reality show, huge tits and a top star boyfriend really did make things better. If she'd said yes and became a Total Diva, they would have made an exception for her too.

The Divas Champion mentally turned away her vicious thoughts. AJ did respect the girls (well most of them anyway) for taking on the role of reality stars as well as WWE Divas already. Talking in front of the camera or about her life wasn't a hard thing for AJ, but having a crew follow her from the moment she woke up till she got back in bed would be too annoying to her. Sure, it would give her loyal fans a glimpse of who she is outside the ring and boost her popularity to the top diva status she held for a year. But the awkwardness of having the WWE website staff follow her during WrestleMania week made her see why she wasn't cut for the job. Her profession was wrestling and the fans needed to know her as a character. Her personal life should be a mystery, not on display.

Her extra day off wasn't the issue. The concern she had for Punk's behavior went into red alert once he planned their trip to Tampa. He ordered his bus driver to go back to Chicago and then bought red eye tickets to Tampa. Once they arrived she was sure he would turn around and hop back on the next flight to Chicago, but instead he caught them a cab to her house and accompanied her straight to her door, booked her doctor's appointment, and spent the night on her couch. He wasn't in a rush to leave at all.

Punk really was staying with her, and it was starting to worry her. More than anything, it confused her greatly. As Wednesday rolled around, he kept his word actually hung out with her. They had a Starbucks themed breakfast that morning, and Punk even met her sister when she stopped by to bring mail, and of course the only permanent man in her life, Nacho Cheese. If watching the five year old Chihuahua play around and bond with Punk during her doctor's appointment wasn't surreal enough, AJ and Punk themselves hadn't stopped bonding as well. The conversions about comics, music and their light debate on why Spiderman's abilities were or weren't overrated relaxed her. She hadn't felt this at ease in months, and part of her had a feeling Punk hadn't either.

When she got word that Big E was back home in Tampa as well, they decided to head over to his most dearly beloved place to work out, Hard Nocks South. "Mama's here!" Big E greeted as AJ and Punk entered John Cena's purposely misspelled gym, opening his arms with a smile to greet his 'mother' figure. He shook hands with Punk and greeted Nacho with head rub, then proceeded to pick up and slowly spin AJ until she kept laughing again.

"E, you're making me dizzy again!" she chuckled, finally feeling the floor again before taking a seat.

"How was the ride home?" Big E asked. "I mean, I'm sure it was better than mine." Punk frowned as E continued. "Aksana and Kaitlyn decided to override the radio and play Ariana Grande…and sing along… on repeat." AJ could only stare in awe as Punk winced painfully at that news.

"Well, don't worry," she assured him. "I passed my test and my headaches are gone. Come Monday I'll be in St. Louis and back to work as good as new." She smiled brightly. "It helped to have a friend who wouldn't leave me alone."

"Yeah, I didn't know you stayed her Punk," E said thoughtfully.

Punk just shrugged. "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do," he admitted casually. "I might hang out with Joey once he gets back, and I'll probably see Kofi later. Everyone I know is down here." Then he smirked playfully. "Besides, AJ's not bad company." Nacho barked, making AJ laugh as Punk winced at the shrill noise. "Okay, alright…Nacho's kick ass too. Sorry about that, fur ball." The little dog just whined at him in response, hopping up onto AJ's lap.

AJ noticed Big E's instigating facial expression as Punk turned away to survey the place. He proceeded to bat his eyelashes and awe soundlessly, clearly mocking AJ as she frowned at him in annoyance. She had to deliver a sharp backhand to the chest to stop him, causing him to yelp in pain.

Punk turned back as she just smiled lightly, watching E rotate his shoulder and hold his hand over his now aching upper body. "You alright man?" Punk asked, putting the dumbbells down slowly.

"Oh yeah, I should just stretch this out later," E replied easily. "It just feels like something hit me…hard." He watched AJ flex her jaw tightly with a smile.

"Yo!" came a greeting from the door behind them. Punk turned to see Joey Mercury entering the gym, greeting his friends and co workers warmly. After hugging his best friend, the former Straight Edge Society member-turned NXT trainer gave AJ a concerned smile. "Hey there, spitfire. How you feeling?"

AJ returned the smile. "A lot better actually," she admitted. "The doctors said they didn't see anything wrong, so they're going to inform that staff. I need to take it easy but I should be back on Raw Monday!"

"Great," Joey replied with a sigh of relief. "We can't afford to lose you, champ." She blushed at his praises as he turned to face Punk. "So what's up with you? You lose your house keys or something? Or did you break up with Cabana? You usually don't show up unannounced."

"I'm helping out a friend," Punk answered. "Simple as that." He glanced back at the weight benches. "Now that AJ's fine, I'm gonna go work out. So shut up and be my benching bitch for the day."

"I'll just walk Nacho around the corner or something since I can't do much," AJ suggested as she stood, clearing her throat in hopes her former heavy was smart enough to catch on.

Thankfully E did, nodding before rubbing his hands, "You know, I'm on my way out so, I'll just walk with you," he announced with an innocent shrug." You know, just so you don't get kidnapped or something."

"Alright, see you when you get back," Punk said as he rolled his shoulders back. "Oh, but don't let her run. She still needs to relax for a few days." He shot the big weight lifter a warning glance before laying back on one of the benches, waiting for Joey to take his place as spotter before starting his reps.

"Got it, I'll take good care of your girl," E shouted over his shoulder. AJ slapped him again as they walked out, but he merely laughed as she placed Nacho at his feet.

"I may be slightly injured but I can still kick your ass," she warned, hooking up the leash and holding it loosely as Nacho led the way for them.

"I think it's cute," E said with an amused grin. "Better love story than Letty and Dominic, if you ask me."

"She dies doesn't she?" AJ asked.

He just rolled his eyes. "For the hundredth time, she alive now," he replied. "But she hates Dominic. Reasons why your little crush on Punk is better than their love story."

"There's no love story!" she snapped, shaking her head as they kept walking. "If anything it's a confusion story, because I don't even understand why he's helping me. Yeah, we're friends and we've been friends for awhile, but he's just being way too kind and genuine to be the CM Punk I've known lately."

"Not really," E defended. "I mean, he must care deeply enough to deliver you home. C'mon, what's really bothering about this? And don't you dare say Amy…"

"Amy!" she echoed. "He's here with me when he should be with her, where ever she is. He should be spending his days off with his girlfriend he barely gets to see when he's on the road! I feel like asking him why he isn't, but I don't want to."

"That's conflicting when you care as a friend," E agreed.

"I know," she groaned. "Since he returned from his break, he's been acting really distant from everyone. It like he's hung an F you sign around his neck and everyone can see it blinking."

"You should just ask him," he suggested. "I mean, what do you think it is? You think Amy and him went to spiltsville again?"

"I don't know," she sighed, "but she's hardly been away from the WWE or Punk since they got back together. Yet when I brought her up, he shut down completely." Picking up Nacho to cuddle him, she sighed again while E nodded in understanding. "I don't know if I'm the one who should be asking about his life and personal issues anyway."

"Seriously?" E asked, lightly snickering with his hands pointed up the street. "He could be home in Chicago with his buddies and having his own good time, but he's here in Tampa with you instead. Not to mention, he's been taking care of you since the night you were injured."

"So what?"

"So, I think he sees you as more than just his co-worker and that scares you," E explained, and all AJ could do was try her best to deny it with a shake of her head. "People break up and move on with life, AJ. Maybe this is his way of doing it. I mean, after working so closely with you, and having so much in common, he's gotta see you as a friend."

"Maybe, but after the angle we worked together we didn't really talk much in depth," she protested lightly. "Just in passing. I just figured he was being the mutual co-worker and mentor he's always been to me. But I've been with him for four days, and not once has he made contact with Amy or mentioned her. Whenever they're apart I usually see him glued to his phone, either texting her or talking to her. But he's barely touched it since I rode with him on Sunday night."

"So, you should just let him be nice," he suggested. "Maybe this is way of changing again. He might just want to be around people worth helping. You can ask him if something is wrong when you feel right, or wait until he feels the need to inform you himself."

AJ twisted her lip and E nodded in encouragement. "I'll just wait it out," she decided. "It would be a slap to the face if I started asking and being nosy around him."

"Honestly, I think he'll tell you," E predicted with a sure tone in his voice. "Not because you're not the gossipy Diva…or much of a girl personality wise." AJ shoved him lightly as he cracked on. "But he seems to trust you now. You've earned it."

"I guess I should just left him be and enjoy his time," she said softly. "He's not a complete bore and he is fun to be around so… I shouldn't worry."

If Punk was trying to change or make light of his situation, she had no choice but to think of the possible bright side of things. Beside Big E and Kaitlyn worrying about her well-being, Punk's display of acceptance and kindness proved that she didn't need a show to find her true friends. With the Mexico City tour taking up the next weekend, she could use this trip home to her advantage. She could be herself around Punk, and she didn't have a camera crew following her or people judging her for who they thought she was.

Guess being AJ Lee was way better than being a Total Diva.

* * *

**Author's note: and it's back to MyChaosTheory for the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

Punk had to admit to himself, he didn't know where this sudden emergence of the white knight within him had come from. Even after the (admittedly relaxing and enjoyable) couple of days he spent tending to the concussed Diva's champion, he still didn't know what had come over him when he volunteered to be AJ's caretaker. Going over that night again and again in his mind, he couldn't recall his thought process. He'd just blurted out his offer to take her home before he could even think about the words that were coming out of his mouth, and before he knew it he was sleeping on her couch.

Sure, he'd nursed injured friends back to health before (in the wrestling business, it was a fairly frequent occurrence). He'd elevated Kofi's sprained ankle, held an ice pack to the back of Zack Ryder's head, and helped Daniel hobble out to the parking lot in the past. But he had never volunteered to be someone's babysitter before. He had never made a 17 hour detour just to drop someone off. What made AJ so special that he was suddenly willing to derail what few days he managed to get, just to take care of her? He didn't remember the last time he did something like this for anyone.

But a couple of weeks removed from the Battleground pay-per-view, Punk found his friendship with AJ growing despite his confusion toward his own behavior. In recent months, he'd mostly been eating lunch alone, seeking solitude rather than companionship. But lately he found himself joining AJ and her friends in the catering area, or sometimes inviting her to take up with himself and Paul Heyman. He enjoyed spending time with her, teasing her about every little thing as he looked at her over the rim of his Pepsi can, just to hear her laugh. He didn't know what it was about that sound or why it soothed his ears so infectiously, but boy did he love the sound of her laugh. It took his mind off of the angry, bitter thoughts that usually scrolling through his head on permanent repeat. As long as he didn't run out of things to talk about with her (and they seemed to have an endless number of things in common, so it hadn't happened yet), he could just continue to keep reality at bay.

His friends were starting to notice that he wasn't always so surly anymore. "Look at you, Punk," Kofi teased him one day before a house show with a small shove. "Coming out of your little shell again."

Punk just waved him off casually. "Don't know what you're talking about," he muttered as he bit off the edge of his roll of wrist tape. He didn't have any plans to 'talk about his feelings'.

"Sure, whatever," Kofi chuckled. "I'm just glad you're 50% less of CM Jerk today. AJ must love hanging out with you, she gets to hear all about her idol." He paused with a slight frown. "Hey, speaking of her idol… where's Amy been at lately, anyway? I haven't seen her around in… awhile."

He didn't mean to, but before he could stop himself he slammed the roll of tape down on the bench. "I don't…" He shook his head, he didn't want to go into it. Not now. "She's fine. Amy's fine." But even the name stung on the edge of his lips. He ran his hands roughly back over his messy mop of hair, sighing heavily. He needed to get out of here before Kofi recovered from his shock and began questioning him further. "Look, I've gotta go." Grabbing his tape and permanent marker, he stormed out of the room and weaved through the various intertwining hallways of tonight's local arena. He walked with purpose so no one thought to interrupt him, but in truth he had no real direction. He just wanted to avoid everyone, to make the constant questions and reminders stop. He even passed by AJ in catering but didn't stop to chat. Not even his newfound friendship with the diva's champ could soothe him right now.

Eventually, Punk found his way to an old storage room. There wasn't much inside but some old hockey equipment that had a layer of dust thick enough to suggest this area wasn't often explored. That was just fine with him, it meant he wasn't likely to be disturbed. Sighing, he laid back on the concrete floor. It wasn't comfortable but folding up his jacket and putting it beneath his head made it comfortable enough. He was just settling his headphones over his ears when he heard his phone begin to blare a familiar ringtone. "Really dude?" he sighed heavily. Grumbling, he answered it. "Hello?"

"If it isn't my man Punker," the cheerful voice of Rancid guitarist Lars Frederiksen answered him.

Punk just groaned. "What have I told you about calling me 'your man'?" he asked.

"Right, I forgot, the weird borderline man crush relationship is reserved for you and Cabana and I can't cross that line," Lars teased. "Alright alright, I'll cut it out. So what's up?"

"You called me," Punk pointed out.

"Ooh, we're pretty testy today aren't we," Lars said with a chuckle. "I can see you're busy, so I'll cut to the chase. What night are we having your birthday dinner?"

Punk bit his lip at the mention of his upcoming birthday. "I don't know," he replied cagily.

"You don't know yet?" Lars asked. "It's in a few days! I'm asking since I haven't booked my flight yet, because I know you've got Hell in a Cell in Miami the day after your birthday and I don't know if you've got a WWE thing so we'd have to do it the day before or something… Look I know it sucks to call the birthday boy about it, but Natalie usually plans this shit and her phone went straight to voice mail. I tried calling Amy a couple of times too, but she isn't picking up the-"

"Uh, Lars," Punk interrupted stiffly, "I don't think I'm having my birthday dinner this year."

"No birthday dinner?" the Lars questioned in disbelief. "But it's tradition."

"I know," Punk sighed tiredly. "I just think I want to skip it this year."

"Are you sure?" Lars pressed, concern entering his voice. "You're committing a cardinal sin against Punktober, you know. You're breaking the first commandment. Are you ok, Phil? I haven't heard from you in awhile, and now you're acting like someone kicked your puppy."

Punk knew he owed one of his closest, most supportive friends a real explanation. Lars had always been there for him. He rarely had a source of truth and honesty about his direction in life quite like the punk rock icon, and Punk had always done his due diligence by not keeping any secrets. But today wasn't the day he felt like spilling his guts on table for everyone to see. He couldn't do that yet, not even with Lars. "I'm sure," he answered finally, rubbing his forehead. "And I really don't want to talk about it."

"Phil-"

He'd already hung up the phone.

* * *

"So I was thinking Denny's after the show," Big E announced as he popped a potato chip into his mouth.

AJ let out a small laugh. "You think about where do go for more food while you're eating food?" she teased, taking a sip of her iced tea. "You're such a pig."

"What can I say?" The bulky wrestler gave her a shrug. "I'm in the mood to have two breakfasts today."

"I just can't believe it's only lunch and you're already thinking about dinner," she replied with accusatory but joking waggle of her index finger at him. "Like I said, you're a pig."

"And this is coming from the girl who just choked down an entire cheeseburger in the blink of an eye a minute ago," he scoffed. Widening his eyes at her, he ate a few more chips.

She merely groaned good-naturedly and continued sipping on her iced tea, she rarely was able to get any sort of serious reply out of Big E (not that she was looking for one at the moment), and right now was no exception. Propping her chin up on the edge of her palm, she glanced around the large room that served as this arena's catering unit. There were a few other people milling around, some talent and some road crew, grabbing something to eat or just sitting with friends.

One such group was huddled at the corner table, laughing together at their own private joke. AJ couldn't help but roll her eyes. _Total Divas, _she thought with disgust. _More like total dirt bags. _It was a thought that often popped into her head whenever her gaze landed upon the group of 7 women. Now that they had their own TV show focusing almost exclusively on them and their relationships, many of them acted like the whole world revolved around them now (particularly the ones hired for the sole purpose of being on the show). Their high school attitudes got under her skin more often than she was willing to admit. While she had worked practically her entire life to get to this point, most of the Total Divas treated their WWE careers as mere rest stops in their existence. For AJ, it was her whole life.

"You're having vengeful thoughts about the airheads over there, aren't you?" Big E interrupted her train of thought a few moments later, observing his friend's cold expression.

"Maybe," she replied coolly, finally turning so she wouldn't have to look at them anymore.

"Come on, give them a bit of a break," E advised. "What did Nattie ever to do to you?"

"Nothing," she admitted with a small sigh, "but since those cameras became attached to the back of her head, she's been sloppy in the ring. It's like she doesn't care about the wrestling part anymore!"

"Relax, Black Widow," he chuckled. "Where's your nurse at anyway?"

"Stop calling him that!" she insisted nervously, biting her lip to keep herself from blushing.

"He nursed you back to health," he reminded her helpfully. "If that doesn't qualify him for that title-"

"He spent a couple of days babysitting me, so what?" she cut him off with a casual wave of her hand. "It doesn't mean anything. He was just looking out for me. And like I said before, he's got a girlfriend!"

"Who said anything about that?" he replied calmly, watching her carefully with widened eyes as he finished off his chips. "I didn't say anything about jumping his bones or cutely serenading the man for a first date. You're the one who went there, not me."

At this, her cheeks turned the inevitable light shade of pink. What did _that _say about where her mind was at? Why did she immediately have to jump in with relationship protests as soon as her teasing, light-hearted friend brought him up? Groaning, she buried her head in her hands. She was _friends _with the straight edge superstar, that was all, and she was enjoying her growing friendship with him. He was a nicer guy then a lot of people gave him credit for, but he never failed to be the first (or second, sometimes he didn't get to beat Big E to the punch) or second person to poke fun at her when the time or situation called for it. He was a fun guy to talk with, to spend time with and hang out with, and even more so when she got the opportunity to absolutely slaughter him in Street Fighter or wrestling games. And most importantly, her company seemed to improve his moods a little. He didn't seem quite as tired sometimes, which made her hopeful that he might come out of whatever rut he'd been stuck in.

But something still bothered her about his behavior. Whenever anyone brought up Amy, no matter what the context-whether it was asking about where she was, or how she'd been, why she hadn't been accompanying him to pay per views lately, or even just retelling a story about her or mentioning her name in casual conversation-Punk shut down instantly. Sometimes, he would just fall silent and drop out of the conversation. Other times he would abandon it completely, slipping away from whatever group of friends he was with to go brood in private. Worse still, occasionally he would even snap at whoever brought one of WWE's most celebrated women's champions up. If AJ wasn't suspicious about the source of Punk's distress before their friendship had begun its spontaneous growth, she was now.

She was still off in her own mind when Big E interrupted her train of thought yet again. "Speaking of guys who have girlfriends," he piped up, "isn't that punker boy over there?" He nodded his head subtlely in the direction of the hallway that ran in front of catering, and she turned to follow his gaze just in time to see Punk breeze by. He looked as though he was in a hurry, he didn't even turn to glance her way.

"He looks angry," she observed. "Should I go talk to him?"

E held up his chip crumb encrusted hands. "That's all on you girl," he said. "But just know if you go after him, I can't protect you from the big boy's claws." He wiped his hands with a napkin.

"I don't need your protection!" she laughed. "Punk's my friend. I'm gonna be just fine." She smiled at him as she climbed off the bench and took off in pursuit of Punk.

After a few minutes of searching, it became clear to AJ that he didn't want to be found. He wasn't in any of his usual haunts near the vending machines, the loading dock behind the arena, on top of the production crates near the gorilla, or his bus. He was definitely determined to avoid people, and that only made her more determined to find him. If he was trying to dodge the world, that meant something was wrong, and a big part of her yearned to try to fix his problem and help him the way he had helped her in her time of need. She kept up her search for him, circling deeper into the twists and turns of the arena. She nearly went right past him, having to back track to the open door of what looked to be a rarely used storage room. "Punk?" she called a little timidly, leaning in through the doorway. But he was lying in the floor, arms crossed behind his hooded head, eyes closed, and headphones over his ears. She repeated his name, but there was no answer. The room was silent but for the faint echo coming from the edges of his headphones. With a sigh she passed through the doorway, crouching down beside him to lift his hood from over his eyes, thinking perhaps he was asleep. But he reacted immediately, sitting up and yanking his headphones off so quickly that she jumped back a little.

"AJ!" he gasped, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "You scared the shit out of me!"

She sat cross-legged beside him, frowning. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"It's ok," he sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "You just surprised me." He brought his knees up against his chest, resting his chin on them. "So what's up? How did you find me anyway?"

"About 15 minutes of thorough search and destroy," she answered him simply, with a wry smile.

"Search and destroy?" he echoed, letting out a small chuckle. "Does that mean you destroyed everywhere you looked and didn't find me?"

"Of course," she replied sarcastically, with a laugh of her own. "Every empty room was set on fire."

He smiled at her briefly, but it wasn't long before it faded. "So… what's up?" he repeated.

Now that she ran her reasoning over in her head, she realized how strange and sudden her spontaneous decision to run after him was. "Well uh, you sort of stomped by catering looking like… well, looking like you were on your way to go knock someone out," she explained. "I wanted to see if you were ok."

"Oh." He smiled faintly again. "Yeah. I just wanted to be away from people for a little while."

She looked down, feeling awful now for interrupting his quiet time. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I shouldn't have run around stalking you. I'm just worried. What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

He let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his eyes. "AJ…" he muttered as he ran his hands back over his hair. "I just… nothing, ok? Nothing happened. I'm just not feeling social today."

Her gut instinct told her to let it go and take his word for it but she couldn't, not when she had finally gotten him alone and had the chance to just come out and ask him what was going on. "Punk, please," she begged. "We're friends, aren't we? Friends are supposed to trust each other and talk to each other. Something is obviously hurting you enough that you aren't even rocking Punktober the way you're supposed to." She offered a small smile, hoping the mention of the moniker he'd bestowed to the month of his birthday would get him to open up a little.

"It doesn't feel very much like Punktober," he admitted finally.

"Well, why not?" she asked. "Just talk to me, Punk. If you-"

"Damn it, why won't anyone just fucking listen to me?" he snapped suddenly, his voice so full of anger that she instinctively hopped to her feet and moved back. "I keep telling everyone I don't want to fucking talk… Well I don't, AJ. I don't want to talk about it. Just leave me alone." He got to his feet, making sure his headphones were hanging securely around his neck before storming out of the room. He left a stunned, hurt, and confused Diva's champion in his wake.

* * *

It took a little less than a minute for Punk to regret yelling at AJ the way he did. He couldn't believe his own attitude, and the way he'd taken it out on her so cruelly. She didn't deserve that from him, especially when she'd only been trying to get through to him and help him. He turned around and raced back to the storage room to apologize, but it was just as empty now as it was when he first found it. Grumbling angrily, he leaned his head back against the cold concrete wall. Did he just ruin his friendship with the brightest little spot in his life right now? He knew if someone had hollered at him the way he had at her, he probably wouldn't want to talk to them again anytime soon.

Confirming his fears, he didn't see her for the rest of the day. He was wrestling in the main event of the house show that night, which meant that she and her protector Big E were long gone by the time he came hobbling backstage. As he boarded his bus (without Kofi, perhaps the African native was weary of him and decided to steer clear as well) he thought about texting her as a sign of good will, but he didn't want to risk pushing her away even further with such an impersonal apology. So he fell back onto his bed with a heavy sigh, alone again. But this time, his solitude was comforting.

Mid morning on Friday, his phone was already blowing up with celebratory calls and texts. He ignored all of them (particularly the pitiful voicemail from his mother), only taking the one phone call he was obligated to: from Colt Cabana. But even then, Punk kept the conversation short. Colt asked him the same question every year. "How's it feel to be a geezer soon?" his best friend of over a decade and a half would ask. "About the same," he'd reply. He hung up before the independent wrestler could interrogate him about skipping his birthday dinner.

Most of the eve before his 35th birthday passed the same as any other day would. After the barrage of failed communication (but none from AJ, he noticed) died down, he headed to the hotel's gym for his work out. It wasn't as extensive a facility as he would have liked, but he made do with what he had and it worked. Sweating, burning calories, and sculpting muscle mass helped to take his mind off the loneliest birthday weekened he'd ever had.

But the distraction couldn't last forever. Eventually he tired himself out and exhausted most of his workout playlists, so he returned to his room for a long shower. By the time he got out, it was the early evening. But as he would quickly discover, the hotel was almost devoid of his co-workers right now. Most of them weren't even checked in yet, and the few who were had opted to check out the city's night life instead of stay in. Well, that was just fine with him. It meant he could eat at the downstairs restaurant alone, in relative peace. He ordered himself a Pepsi (regular, not diet, it was his birthday after all) to start off with and sighed, leaning forward to press his forehead against the table. Being alone may have been easier in the short term, but not talking to a single friend in person yet today? Well, that was just downright depressing. _And fucking pathetic, _he thought miserably.

He was only mildly aware of the table shifting a moment later, perhaps the waitress was back with his Pepsi. But when he lifted his head, he found that wasn't the case at all. Sitting across from him was none other than AJ Lee herself, and between them sat a chocolate cupcake with a single lit candle sticking out of it. "I thought you might be lonely," she said softly, offering him a small smile.

"I am," he admitted, staring at her in awe. "I didn't expect to see you though. Especially after…" He sighed. "The other day. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I'm really sorry."

"Hey, no apologizing on your birthday," she warned him with a wave of her hand. "Forget about it. It's over."

"I'm glad you're so forgiving," he replied, "but it's not my birthday just yet."

"Who cares?" she laughed. "I brought you a cupcake, so take advantage of it. Now make a wish, and blow out your candle before your cupcake gets covered in wax."

He chuckled and did as he was told, closing his eyes and blowing to snuff out the tiny flame between them. He opened his eyes and watched the small plume of smoke spiral up and away. "Should I eat it now?" he asked, eagerly taking note of the rich frosting covering the top of it.

"Of course!" She grinned. "It's your birthday cake after all."

He chuckled and picked it up, plucking the candle out and peeling the paper off so he could take a large bite out of the middle. "Mm, this is great. Thanks AJ." He smiled at her. "Really."

"You're welcome," she replied, smiling back. Then she paused, drumming her fingers on the table for a moment. "You know, I've been thinking a lot lately."

"Have you?" he asked, putting the rest of the cupcake down.

"Yeah," she replied. "And I was thinking… I want to tell you a story." She swallowed hard. "You remember the name of the guy who trained me, right? Jay Lethal?" He nodded, leaning forward. "Well, he was also my boyfriend, for a pretty long time. We traveled the indies together and he always pushed me to be as good as I could be. We were happy. But when I got signed to the WWE… things changed. I was thrown into these silly romantic storylines right away, because I was the cute spunky little thing they wanted to throw at everyone. I don't know if you paid a lot of attention to FCW before we met while you were doing NXT commentary, but my string of on screen boyfriends didn't start there. I didn't necessarily like having so many fake exes, but I did what was, ugh, _best for _business. So I could get to where I've been working toward. How crazy is it to have that many fake relationships?"

At this, Punk couldn't help but chuckle. "It must suck to always get that question in interviews huh?" he asked. " 'Who is the best kisser'? But we all know it's me." He smirked.

"You get a pass on that one because it's your birthday," she warned but she let go a giggle of your own. "Anyway, that's how it started. Jay wasn't jealous, but that's when things started to go downhill. I was away all the time and I had this new life as this upcoming diva while he was still wrestling in high school gyms and… it just fell apart, even though he was happy for me. We had to let each other go, it wasn't working anymore. I've only had one other boyfriend since then, and everyone knows how that ended." She sighed, pushing the plate his half eaten cupcake was on a little closer to him. It was no secret how her brief relationship with Trent Barretta crashed and burned, and most of the locker room lost some respect for him after finding out he cheated on her. "And since winning the belt, I think I have about as many days off as you do. I don't have the time to date anymore, even if I wanted to. I don't think I'd be able to trust anyone anyway. Any guy I meet… they don't know me. They love AJ Lee, not April."

Punk listened in stunned silence. It sounded like her life had taken a page straight from his own, and he was feeling almost honored that she would share something so incredibly personal with him. It made him wonder why she felt comfortable enough to make that connection with him. "Why did you tell me all of that?" he asked, hoping he didn't come off sounding ungrateful.

She didn't seem to take it that way. "Because…" She paused for a moment, chewing nervously on her lower lip. "I thought it might help you understand me better. And maybe make you realize that I might understand you a little more than you might think that I do."

The sudden realization came down on his shoulders like a ton of bricks. Yes, she definitely understood him more than he thought she did. While he was sure she didn't know everything, she knew enough to see straight through the wall he'd carefully constructed around himself. Maybe… maybe if he explained it to her, she would understand completely. "You know why I've been such a jackass lately, don't you?" he asked. "You know I… me and her… you know me and Amy broke up."

"I had suspicions," she admitted, "but I don't know why. Not that you have to tell," she added quickly.

"No, I'll tell you," he said. "I think you deserve to know at this point." He ran a nervous hand through his hair. This would be the first time he'd told anyone about the break up at all, let alone why. "I went into my wrestling hiatus after Mania on a major high note, after that great match with Undertaker. I was happy, and she was happy too. We had an amazing 2 months together and everything was going great. But when I got back on the full tour schedule…" He inhaled tightly.

"Go on," she urged him calmly.

"She didn't like that," he continued. "She got used to having me around every day, and I guess going back to having to live out of a bus if she wanted to see me more than 2 days a week took a toll on her. She would say things like, 'I can't follow you around the country forever' and 'I have my own shit going on, too!' She wanted me to scale my schedule back and seriously plan my retirement, so we could start settling down. But I don't want to retire yet. I still have a lot left to do. So we started arguing a lot. We went from occasional arguments to arguing every time we talked. I actually started dreading my days off, because that meant going home to more fighting. She would act like I didn't miss her too, like being away from her wasn't hard on me too… Anyway, it drove us apart. We finally ended it one night after a huge fight when she accused me of treating wrestling as more important than her." He groaned softly, rubbing his eyes. "I thought I found the one I was going to spend my life with."

"Phil…" she whispered, reaching across the table for his hand. Her fingers laced through his, her heart aching for the pain she saw in his eyes as he told the story.

"I told her if she really cared, she wouldn't be trying to make me choose," he said softly, looking down as he brushed his thumb gently over her hand. "I thought I could have both. She didn't."

* * *

**Author's note: That one sure was a doozy, huh? Well it's off to RunninOnCrazy for her chapter, see you guys next time and I hope everyone enjoys!**


	6. Chapter 6

_AJ did her best to contain her sadness as she stared back at Punk, trying to remain calm and content for his benefit. She ended up staying with him longer than expected, ignoring the cleaning staff around them and the vacant lobby of the hotel as they talked more. She did the math in her head after he admitted the truth behind his depressed state, and realized that when he returned to the WWE at Payback, it was the beginning of the end for him and Amy. The less everyone saw of her, the more change in behavior everyone saw in the Straight Edge star. His slightly abrasive and solitary attitude wasn't because he was tired, hurt, bored or angry with coming back to work. He was simply heartbroken, and he was letting it show. AJ's story may have gotten him to open up, but now she felt as though she'd made him feel like complete shit. The last thing he needed to see was pity in the eyes of someone he willingly confided in. _

_With her hand still locked loosely with his, AJ cracked a weak smile before announcing, "To say that I know it's hard to keep that in for so long would be a huge understatement." She watched him run his hand through his unkempt hair. "And honestly, I'm more upset about Amy not understanding you." _

_Punk snorted. "I know," he agreed. "As if picking up the phone and telling Paul and Vince 'you can fuck off now, I'm gonna go settle down and have a family' was going to be so easy for me. I understand that she has a love hate attitude towards the WWE but not enough to talk me out of it. I think she wanted me to side with her but this business does have a huge place in my heart. More than most things do." _

_"Exactly, she should understand the love you have for it all, let alone why you want to stay until your body falls apart," she encouraged him, making him snort with his head bowed, knowing she was right._

_"I understand why it hurts… and I know it hurts, Punk," she continued. "I watched you two spend all this time together and I saw how happy you were to have Amy on the road with you. I mean, I see how sad Kaitlyn is when she's away from her boyfriend and how lonely Daniel was without Brie around. Then I see how happy they are when they get to see them again." She shook her head before sighing deeply, trying her best not to show her pain. "It makes a world of difference. I wish I had what they have. But, it's not easy for everyone." _

_Punk looked up, then slowly moved his thumb across her manicured nails before locking eyes with her. "Have you ever heard the saying, 'It's lonely at the top?'" he asked, and she nodded. "Well I've lived by that shit longer than anyone around. I can get over the hump. And I can tell you, champ, the feeling's shitty, but you will find someone that will care about you. Even the things you can't stand about yourself, they might just love that about you." _

_AJ grinned back at him, watching a smile form on his dimpled, scruffy cheeks. "I sure hope they love hearing me curse at Dolph in 2k14," she chuckled._

_"You still can't beat Daniel at that TLC match huh?" he asked. " Cause I told you, Dolph was the wrong character for it." _

_"Don't put Dolph and wrong in the same sentence again," she hissed with a bothered frown. "He's still Ziggypuff." Punk could only awe at her frustration. _

_"Well, if you're still having trouble, I already beat Road to WrestleMania mode already …" he offered._

_Her eyes widened as he tilted his head slightly. "Unless it involves cleaning someone bloody off your body, I will do whatever you want," she promised. _

_He leaned over again, smirking as she waited for the request, "So… you have a signing tomorrow?" _

_She glanced down at her phone. "It's our favorite event Punk," she replied. "Ringside Fest, up in New Jersey. You know, action figures and a sold out crowd of people saying how awesome we are." _

_"Aw man, it is," he sighed, suddenly remembering as well. "So you'll be there all day?" _

_"Just until four," she answered. "I'll have to get on a red eye soon. After that, I was just going to get on a plane to Miami for the PPV." Then she smiled ruefully at him. "And hopefully you don't hide in anymore storage rooms or hole up in the hotel. Just head to Miami early and have fun, ok? I know Joey's one phone call away and Kofi would love to hang out with you." _

_"I've been giving him such shit lately, I'm shocked he hasn't hurled a glass at me this week," he teased, making her snicker with him. "But, you're right. It's Punktober and I shouldn't let it die. And I know Natalie is probably planning to hire a bounty if I don't get to Chicago for at least a day." _

_AJ shrugged. "So go then," she told him. "I mean, there's no place like home right? You need to be around the people that love Phil Brooks _and _CM Punk. You need to be in good company." _

_He nodded in agreement, sighing softly with relief as he dug his phone out. "Let's see what Expedia has," he muttered, scrolling through a page. "I can get on a red eye to Chicago and be there in the morning."_

_"Awesome!" She beamed, feeling successful in her mission to guild Punk to the light of happiness._

_"And... there's a flight from JFK in New York to Chicago," he added with a nod. "You'll be done at four, the plane boards at 5:15 and it's a 3 hour flight... Perfect. You'll get there just in time." _

_She stared at him with a blend of confusion and excitement. "Why are you…" But suddenly it clicked._

_"You just said I should spend my birthday with good company right?" he countered, causing her heart to race at that direction of this conversation. "I mean, do you need a mirror to see what I see?" _

_She shook her head and sighed. "Punk, honestly, I'd love to but…" _

_ "I don't accept the words no and but on my birthday, Ms. Mendez," he informed her flatly. "I've gone home to Tampa with you, right? So you should come to my hometown with me." He smiled broadly as he typed on his phone, nodding in satisfaction. "There, your ticket is paid for. Get to JFK on time, enjoy your 3 hour nap, and I'll send someone to O'Hare for you."_

_"Punk…" _

_"AJ." He reached for her hand as they locked eyes one more time. "Please. If there's anyone who's made this past week, month even, better for me, it's you. Don't let me down. Don't say no." _

_She blushed in reply, watching his telltale smirk grow. "Alright, I'll leave right after Ringside Fest," she relented, throwing her hands up in defeat with a small smile. She couldn't deny that special little smirk that returned to his flushed face, brighter than ever._

* * *

"AJ!"

The sound of her name being called jerked her out of her memories of the night preceding Punk's birthday. She blinked quickly as she looked around. Punk was sitting next to her, dressed basketball shorts and rotating his wrists. "Hey, you alright?" he asked.

AJ nodded in reply, clapping her hands together as she hopped into one of the WWE performance center's many squared circles. "I was just thinking about Marty's comment," she replied.

Punk stopped, tilting his head back to chuckle before joining her in the ring. "Really? So you're willing to pose in a racy Harley Quinn outfit for Playboy?"

"Oh, yeah," she countered with a sarcastic laugh. "When hell freezes over and Nacho talks to you in Del Rio's accent." She circled around the ring a few times, bouncing off the ropes. "But seriously, I was thinking about how fun your birthday dinner was."

"For a dinner full of shmucks, it wasn't too bad," he agreed with a chuckle. "Real feel-good time."

She smiled at him, happy that not only did Punk enjoy his last minute birthday celebration, but that she had been so welcomed by some of his hometown gang. She also couldn't deny the rush this spontaneous trip gave her. Kaitlyn had teased her about how 'romantic' it was, but AJ could tell that clearly wasn't Punk's intention. She was his friend, one he needed more and more as the days on the road once again became more stressful for them. More than once she found herself holding down one of his fists when fans would start getting too personal with their questions. His problems with Amy's absence seemed to be his Achilles heel, and she tried her best to show him he didn't need to worry about losing her, too.

That caused the amount of time they shared with one another to increase, and AJ couldn't help but feel good about her role in his recovery. But the more time they spent in each other's company, the more she felt some sort of chemistry pull them together. It wasn't little; she felt static with everyone touch of his hand, and it was their during the Mexico City tour that his protective side started to show around her. She didn't know whether to ignore it or confront him, but again, she kept her feelings on the backburner and let her friendship with Punk run as smoothly as it could.

"Enough reflection time," Punk chuckled finally. "You've got a live event schedule a mile long and a spinning kick that needs to be cleaned up." She heard the doors to the wrestling area open somewhere behind her, but she was more focused on herself and her coach.

"Lock up," he called, and she charged him so they could lock arms tightly in the middle of the ring. "Alight, now, give me a move you haven't done in a long time."

"Slice bread?" she suggested.

"Sure," he agreed, and she switched places to place Punk into said headlock. She groaned as Punk struggled out, and then used her quickness to jump high and back flip with Punk's head hitting the mat with an inverted DDT.

"Good?" she asked.

"Well my back and my head hurt, so yeah, I'd say that was pretty effective," he chuckled.

She smiled, feeling him rise up with her. They continued their training session without noticing the small crowd that had formed around the ring, occasionally piping up with small utterances of how impressed they were with AJ's skills in the ring. She had been known for being the most athletic during her time in developmental and in NXT. As the onlookers observed her practice all of her recently taught moves on the former WWE champion, they found that fact about her to be proven true. She definitely didn't earn her place on the roster just by standing around and being pretty.

"Can you teach me the Anaconda Vise now?" she asked hopefully, still keeping him in a headlock.

"If you let me cop a feel, I'll consider it," he teased, laughing as she tightened the headlock in response. "For right now, tilt a whirl DDT." He tossed her into the ropes and swung for a clothesline as she charged back and ducked, running back into the ropes as he leaned over. He gracefully reached around her body and lifted her effortlessly, letting her spin herself around his body with his help until she grabbed his head. He landed on his face, she on her back and she turned over to lift his leg into a pin.

"One, two, three!" AJ crowed happily. "Ring the bell!" She turned her head, watching Daniel rotate his hands to make the noise for her. She eased off Punk and sat on her knees, letting him get up.

"The winner by pin fall and the chick who made Punk her bitch, AJ Lee!" Daniel announced, raising her hand triumphantly with a loud laugh.

"I hope a gardener weed whacks that thing off your face," Punk threatened.

Daniel merely chuckled. "What? That was impressive, AJ. You're getting tighter in the ring," he praised.

"Well, I did stand outside the ring for two years," she pointed out. "Happened to learn a great deal, especially with submissions, right master Danielson?"

"Yes, the black widow is impressive indeed," Daniel agreed. He patted Punk's shoulder. "This means us boys need to up our game if we want to outshine you this weekend."

"We should." Punk nodded, glancing back at AJ. "You don't mind."

"Not at all," she assured him. "I should go freshen up anyway. Just got go nuts, your indy days are over!" She hopped out of the ring and threw her towel around her neck, leaving the two men offended.

"Says one half of the AC express!" Punk called after her, making her snicker as she went into the locker rooms and into the bathroom.

With the live tour of Europe only a day away and a live event the following day, AJ wanted to keep her moves as tight as possible. Punk volunteering to be her partner for the day made her Wednesday at the new Orlando Performance Center a great one. He'd mentored her in the ring a few times before, but it felt great to actually have him train with her. He understood how driven she was and what kind of competitor she wanted to be, so he was able to push her to do more than she ever thought she was capable of. And with her usual road partners on a different part of the tour schedule, that meant she could count on him being her travel partner, too. But she had to knock her giddy feelings about being so close to Punk down and focus on knocking him down to the mat instead.

After using the toilet and getting some of the sweat of her face, she took a breath and studied herself in the mirror. She heard snickering in the halls of the center, but figured it was a pair of NXT rookies chatting among themselves. She'd always been one to stay out of the girlie gossip, and this time was no different. Time was important to her, and she would rather spend it learning in the ring.

But this time, the chatter caught her ear when the names left someone's lips.

"Evidence has been mounting that WWE Diva's Champion AJ Lee and former WWE champion CM Punk are possibly an item," one of them announced in a very formal voice. It sounded like she was reading from something, maybe an article. AJ pressed herself just behind the wall by the bathroom door, listening to what were clearly rumors about herself and Punk. "AJ Lee has been spotted several times with CM Punk, dating back to a Chicago Cubs game in September."

"That's the same day we had that photo shoot for WWE online, right?" another girl asked quickly. The valley girl bass in the voice told AJ it was none other than Nikki Bella.

Another gasped before saying, "Girl yes! She left so early that day. Now we know why she was really in a hurry."

"Girl, yes!" another girl gasped. "She left so early that day. Now we know why she was really in a hurry."

AJ could tell that voice (unfortunately) belonged to Ariane, known to the WWE Universe as Cameron of the Funkadactyls. AJ rolled her eyes when she figured out that this was another Total Divas group huddle. And she didn't hear or see any cameras, so this was just another lame version of all the pretty girls talking about someone. Just like high school. Even in with extensive training and workout facilities at their disposal, they still had nothing better to do.

"Eva, that's enough," another girl snapped. It was Natalya, and her insistence was what stopped AJ from jumping out into the locker room and stopping the new girl herself.

"It's just dirt sheet nonsense," another one added. "You should really stop reading that crap now that you're on the real roster." AJ smiled weakly, happily recognizing the voice of her fellow NXT competitor Trinity, also known as Naomi. She sounded a bit protective, too.

"No wait, there's more!" Eva chuckled. "There have been multiple fan reports of the two traveling together on Punk's private bus during recent WWE tours, including the weekend of the Battleground PPV. They've also been spotted sneaking in and out of arenas."

Fan reports? AJ snorted in disgust. _When have those ever been accurate? _she thought. _People should care more about the concussion I got and the bump the size of Texas I had on my head! If those reports were anywhere near correct, I'd be pregnant with Dolph's baby and feuding with Stephanie for shares of the company right about now._

"Sources say CM Punk was right by AJ's side on the night she suffered her concussion, even flying down to Tampa in order to spend time with her during the week she was out."

_You've got to be kidding! How did they know that? _She pressed her ear to the door, listening for more.

"In what seems to have been a tribute to each other, AJ attended a comic convention wearing a CM Punk t-shirt, while Punk starred in a breast cancer awareness ad wearing AJ's "Love Life" t-shirt."

She clapped her hand over her mouth, trying to stifle an angry gasp. How could anyone claim that meant she and Punk were dating? WWE passed out those breast cancer awareness shirts like candy. Almost everyone had each other's shirts, 'item' or not. And eager to spread the Jill Thompson original artwork on the front of his WrestleMania T-shirt, Punk had given her one that weekend.

"AJ wore Punk's shirt out of support," Trinity spoke up defensively. "We all do it. We have Kaitlyn's shirt, I wore AJ's when she gave me one, and how many guys have at least publicly appeared in Antonio's shirt? It means nothing. I don't see them making out."

But Naomi's logic seemed to have fell upon deaf ears. "Yeah but this is when it gets good," Eva urged. "Earlier reports claimed Punk was still seeing his longtime girlfriend, former WWE women's champion Lita, real name Amy Dumas. But there have been no reports of seeing them together in months. Amy's Twitter account went silent around the same time Punk and AJ were spotted at the baseball game. It has been said that Amy has been avoided social media to dodge questions about the possible breakup."

"Or maybe it's because people like you stalk her constantly," AJ hissed to herself, her anger growing.

"This guy confirmed it on his podcast!" Eva exclaimed. "And said that Punk is conceited-"

"I'll stop you right there," Nikki said. "Punk started the Smackdown roster with us and he's a cool guy until you piss him off. He's always been conceited. He's owned it. So that's not a big deal."

"But I thought he was with Amy," Ariane said. "So are they done or something?"

"We don't know that," Natalya chimed in. "I mean, they always get back together or take breaks so…"

"Well if that's true, I've lost all respect for AJ," Nikki announced, making AJ's heart fall into her stomach. "I mean, it's not like I had much for her in the first place, but Amy's always been the one for Punk. That's real shady of AJ to just squeeze herself between them. I thought she respected Amy and looked up to her!" She scoffed. "Yeah, right. Just some sob story to get more fans, I'll bet. If Amy and Punk really did break up, I wouldn't be shocked if it happened because of her."

"Punk's no saint either," Eva pointed out. "AJ would just be another notch on his belt."

"Yeah, who else is on his list?" Nikki asked. "Amy, Beth, Amy the first time, Maria, he probably banged Kelly too… who knows who else he banged before WWE? He's not good at relationships. God knows what AJ's number is on his list of conquests, but I'm sure she's used to it. I don't think any guy on this roster would date someone who looks like a homeless monster truck pin up girl." Ariane and Eva cackled like school girls. "Besides, her 15 minutes are up now that I'm back and on top."

"Yeah, well I was around when AJ was the face of our division, and she's just working," Trinity argued. "She's my girl. This thing with Punk is just a bunch of BS."

"How naïve, the NXT kids still hold onto each other," Nikki teased.

"Sounds someone's still sour about watching their man make out with her," Ariane shot back, and AJ smirked once the silence fell and Nikki's horns could be heard coming out.

"John was just one of five guys," Nikki snapped sourly. "That storyline is the closest thing AJ will ever get to a real man. Even Dolph admitted it, she'll always be one of the guys backstage. Trent tried to date her, and he was so bored he had to find someone else on the side!"

AJ bit her lip painfully, trying her best to hold in tears and not charge into the room, no matter how much she wanted to bang Nikki's head into the wall.

"This is stupid," Trinity growled. "None of us know what's going on, so why don't we just drop it and stop focusing on everyone's lives!"

AJ heard the voices coming closer to the bathroom door, but she couldn't bring herself to run out the other exit to avoid the group of nasty women. She was too hurt, offended, and stunned to move. The door swung open and she came face to face with the high flying Funkadactyl, watching a look of shock creep over her face as she fell silent.

AJ just looked up, not showing any emotion. No sadness, no anger, not even an unaffected smile graced her face. Trinity, on the other hand, resembled a teenager who just got caught smoking by a teacher.

Before Trinity could say anything, AJ turned away and opted to use the actual exit from the area and walk the opposite direction, away from the Total Divas altogether and back into the ring space. She quickly walked back to the training area, but the fury she felt could be seen all over her.

"Hey, AJ!" Tamina called.

The distraught diva's champion looked up to see her 'lady diesel' standing with Alicia Fox. She glanced around the expansive room, noticing that Punk and Daniel were still wrestling.

"Are you alright?" Tamina asked with a frown when she didn't get a response. AJ shook her head, crossing the room to reach her bag where it sat against the wall. She began searching through it, hoping to avoid Punk seeing her attempt to leave.

"AJ?" She stopped, and then rolled her eyes as another voice that made her skin crawl hit her ear. She turned briefly to see Brie standing over her, but she wasn't as aggressive as her sister, possibly because her hippy nature made her the better and nicer twin,

"Are you leaving?" asked a voice that made AJ's skin crawl as it hit her ear. She turned briefly to see Brie Bella standing over her. Her stance wasn't aggressive, and she tended to be the much lesser evil of the twins. But that didn't matter to her now. "I was hoping we can go over the house show plan…"

"Um, sorry Brie, I need to go," she said quickly, "but I'll see you in South Carolina, ok? Bye!." She zipped up her bag and picked it up, not even making eye contact with Brie as she rushed passed her. It must have concerned everyone else in the room t see AJ look so rattled, because it was enough to pause Daniel and Punk's practice match.

"AJ, where you going?" Punk asked, jumping out of the ring, "I thought you wanted to practice."

"I just really need to get home," she told him, turning away. But Punk caught her arm, forcing her to turn back to face him as he frowned with concern.

"April, what's wrong?" he begged.

That seemed to be the trigger, hitting just the wrong target on her emotions. "I just listened to a Total Bitches tirade led by Nikki. They spent a good 15 minutes talking shit about me, so I'd rather not have to breathe the same air as them right now." She knew her tone would likely cause the next bit of drama.

Everyone froze at her words, and AJ just yanked herself free of Punk's grasp. She breezed right past Natalya and Trinity, who looked regretful of what AJ overheard.

"AJ!" Punk called after her. She felt him grab her hand again, tugging her back to him. The look in his eyes froze her completely. "Who talked about you?"

"It wasn't just me, it was us, they disrespected both of us," she spat. "It doesn't matter what they think, but I'm not going to give them any more to talk about."

"Hey, what the hell was that?" Brie demanded as she rushed over to them, appearing to be just as bothered and confused as Punk was.

"Why the hell's your sister slamming me Brie?" AJ snapped. "She practically called me a home wrecker!"

"She _what_?" Punk asked, stunned.

"When was this?" Brie asked.

"I just heard the whole thing, along with all of the fun rumors people have been starting about Punk and I being together," AJ explained. Her voice was cracking, and she could feel herself being pushed to the brink of tears again. "Since she has so much to say about me, you can relay this for me. For someone who was cuddled up with John before the ink was dry on his divorce papers, she could keep her damn thoughts to herself! None of what she and that red-headed demon had to say is true. Tell her to actually start training and maybe pay some dues, and for Nikki to stop running through John's credit cards! You all need to pay more attention to your own lives and mind your own damn business!" She took a deep breath before looking at Punk. "I'll see you at the house show."

"Wait, don't-" Punk huffed as Brie glared at them both and stalked off. "I'm leaving with you. I don't give a fuck who thinks it's wrong, we're leaving together. Just let me get my stuff."

No!" she cried, holding her hands up. "I…can't be seen with you, Punk." His frown of confusion broke her heart, but she had to be strong. "I just can't. Sorry, but I need time to myself. I'll see you tomorrow."

She hurried out the door to the parking lot, hurling her bag into the passenger seat of her car and getting in. Groaning, she let her forehead rest against the steering wheel. She needed time to think, and to breathe. She knew what she just said about Nikki had a decent chance of getting her in the doghouse- the girl was dating John Cena, after all. Who cares? It wasn't like she wasn't already involved in plenty of drama with all of these dumb rumors hitting the wire.

She thought again of the Total Divas, and how her hatred was starting to grow for them again. It was bad enough that their little reality TV project was damaging the image of the Diva's division as a whole, but now they thought it was ok to spread vicious gossip about their co-workers. They didn't know anything about her life, Punk's life, and how those two intertwined.

It was a slap in the face, especially after all the praise she'd given them for even agreeing to do that awful show. It took a lot of guts to air their personal lives on TV, and apparently now they thought it gave them the right to air everyone else's personal lives, too. It just proved what she'd known all along; with or without AJ on their show, they were still threatened by her existence in the WWE.

But everything Nikki said to her did strike a huge nerve. She didn't think of it before, but she should have looked at how her interactions with Punk seemed suspicious. She was a single girl, and he was a recently single guy. No wonder people had been acting weird and abrasive to her, and lately fans seemed to have joined the fray, reporting and assuming things that weren't true. But wasn't she just feeding into the rumors now, by hanging around with him so openly?

Even Amy's feelings began to swarm into her head. She'd always looked up to the legendary trendsetter, and she helped to inspire young AJ to become who she was today. Hanging out with her ex boyfriend didn't look respectful at all. Suddenly, the lovely she felt after having Punk as a confidant all of the moments they shared together over the past few months made her sick all over again.

She didn't mean to leave Punk hanging, but she drove off and left him in Orlando, thinking the distance would give her some time to think. She wasn't trying to be a notch on his belt, just another number on his long list of women bedded. She had more respect for herself than all of them had for her, she needed everyone to see that.

* * *

**Authors note: off to MyChaosTheory for the next chapter! See you next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

"Come on," Punk grumbled, his eyes trained on the patterned gray carpet beneath his sneakers as he paced rapidly back and forth. He listened impatiently to the seemingly endless ringing in his ear, growing increasingly agitated the longer it went on. _Hey, you've reached April, _a pleasant recording informed him suddenly. _Please leave a message after the- _"Damn it!" He yanked his phone away from his ear, stabbing the hang up button rapidly with his index finger.

"Voicemail again?" Kofi asked, not looking up from his laptop.

Punk shot him a look of disgust. "I'm glad you're so amused by this," he growled as he stuffed his phone into the pocket of his sweatpants. He sat down next to his road wife in a huff.

"I'm not," the dreadlocked man assured him. "I'm just a little surprised that you haven't gotten the hint yet. If she didn't answer you when you called 10 minutes ago, or 20 minutes ago, or 30 minutes ago, or an hour ago, what makes you think she's going to answer now? Face it, dude. She's avoiding you."

"Oh, really?" he asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Thanks for your insight, Detective Kofi. I couldn't have done it without you." He shifted uncomfortably. Even after so many years of traveling all over the world, airport waiting area seats had never given him any measure of comfort. Sighing, he took out his phone again and unlocked it. "Maybe she's not up to talking. I'll text her."

"Again?" Kofi shook his head in disbelief, his eyes widening. "You're getting obsessive. That's it, I'm confiscating your phone until you learn to control yourself." He set his laptop down on the empty seat beside him and reached to snatch it out of Punk's grasp. But the tattooed hands were too quick for Kofi, getting the phone away just in time and holding it just out of reach.

"Alright alright," Punk sighed in defeat. "I'll stop." He put his phone in his jacket pocket but kept his hand over it, just in case it vibrated. Just in case, somehow, she tried to contact him.

It had been a couple of days since the straight edge superstar had last spoken to his vibrant, unpredictable confidant AJ Lee, and he was growing more and more restless about her silence as time passed. After she'd all but stormed out of the Performance Center on Wednesday he hadn't heard a word from her. She managed to duck him at the house show in South Carolina, holing herself up in the women's locker room and, from what he heard, bolting from the arena right after her match was over. He was sure he would be able to catch her at the airport the next morning when everyone made their pilgrimage overseas (they had made sure to book the same flight several days ago), but he had no such luck. She wasn't on his flight that day, and he could only assume she must have switched her ticket to an earlier or later takeoff. This, in addition to all of the unanswered phone calls and text messages showed him how dedicated she was to avoiding him.

It wasn't until the sudden and complete absence of her presence in his life when Punk realized how comfortable and accustomed he had grown to AJ's friendship. It had only been a few days, but not waking up to a good morning text message from her, or hearing her cheerful voice chirp in his ear to cheer him up, or feeling her playfully slap his shoulder as he teased her relentlessly was starting to really bother him. He felt like he'd lost his sidekick, Batman without his little Robin.

But what pushed him a little bit past the point of sanity about the whole situation wasn't just AJ's sudden disappearance from his side, but the reason behind it. Oh how he despised those 'Total Divas', as they liked to call themselves, particularly their ring leader Nikki. How dare they gang up on AJ like that, smugly talking trash about her like they were the popular girls and she was the outspoken outcast on the fringes. Did they think this was high school? Did they think it was ok to disrespect one of their co-workers that way, and their hardest working co-worker at that? They obviously knew nothing about her, and nothing about him either, for that matter. Spreading rumors about some fake relationship… It downright infuriated him, and his fist tightened on his knee even as he thought about it again now.

And the fact that relationship rumors bothered her only served to bother him even more. If ever there were a committee of not caring what other people said and thought, Punk would be its founding father, CEO, and chairman of its board of directors. As long as whatever rumors flew weren't affecting his career or personal life, he could usually care less about whisperings behind his back. He knew he had to remember that not everyone had such thick skin and could adopt as care free an attitude as he did. Some people, AJ included, were a little bit more sensitive than that. But still, it made him wonder. Why did it matter to her so much that some whiny, undeserving bitches were suggesting that the diva's champion and WWE's resident Wolverine were carrying on a relationship? He'd previously thought things had been going so well for the two of them, but it had only taken one (admittedly rough) verbal scuffle with the Total Bitches to send her into hiding. What was she so afraid of?

It was the boarding call for their flight sounding over the PA system that broke Punk's train of thought. He groaned as he stood up, his head whipping around wildly to survey their gate. This early in the morning (at least, he was pretty sure it was early in the morning, but after crossing through so many time zones lately he couldn't be completely positive) the area was mostly deserted, only a few travelers and a decent amount of WWE personnel waiting to board. He eagerly scanned over each person, observing fellow superstars and members of the road crew yawning and stretching or packing away various electronic devices. No AJ, just as he had unfortunately suspected.

"She's not here, man," Kofi muttered sadly from beside him, observing Punk's dismayed expression. "She's probably on a different flight." If one of his closest friends in WWE had now picked up on both the reason for Punk's previous surliness and, conversely, the reason for the lack of it once AJ had become a fixture in his life, he made no indications of such. Kofi didn't want to speculate, only comfort.

"I know," Punk sighed, bending down to grab his carryon bag. "I know." He fished out his phone one more time, dialing the number he knew now by heart. This time, it went straight to voicemail. _Hey, you've reached April. Please leave a message after the beep, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can._

* * *

Punk wasn't sure how long the flight to Scotland was, his mind was too glazed over to process time properly. A combination of jet lag, anger, confusion and sadness left him unable to catch any shut eye on the ride over, either. Not even music was a comfort. He spent the majority of the ride staring at the empty seat next to him, the one that AJ was supposed to be occupying right now. Jet lag was never kind to the young wrestler; he imagined she would have been slumped over on her tray table, her waterfall of dark hair spilling over her face with just a couple of strands moving with each breath she took. It was a position he often saw her assume on flights.

He was still dazed when the plane landed, but he forced his body to keep moving on autopilot. He followed a much more awake Kofi to get their checked luggage, and then they joined the rest of their flight members to board their chartered shuttle to the hotel they would be staying at tonight. He didn't allow himself to hope he would run into her in the lobby. Knowing AJ's behavior lately and all the lengths she'd been going to in order to avoid crossing paths with him, he wouldn't be surprised if she had someone check in for her, or if she'd gotten a room at another place all together.

But the person he ran into near the check in desk _did _end up surprising him. After the attendant handed him his room key, he turned to find none other than Tamina standing behind him. "Hey there," AJ's onscreen partner in crime greeted him with a cheerful smile.

"Hey," he said, forcing himself to smile back.

"You look tired," she observed. "You alright, Punk?"

"Oh, sure," he responded casually. "Just, you know, jetlag." He yawned, as if to make his point.

"Of course," she replied. "Did you guys just get here?"

"Yeah, just now," he replied. "My flight landed not too long ago. You weren't on the same one, right?" He couldn't recall the hall of famer's daughter being there earlier that morning, either.

"No, mine took off a little earlier," she confirmed. "We got here about 30 minutes ago. Me, Sandow, some road agents, AJ…" Her voice dipped slightly with the emphasis she put on the last name she mentioned. "You know, our rooms ended up being on the same floor. Right next to each other, actually. I'm in 422. Isn't that funny how things work out?" She winked at him. "Well, I'm gonna go grab a bite to eat. I'll catch you later at the show, ok?" She put a hand on his shoulder before walking past him.

Punk wasn't a religious man by any means (a self proclaimed atheist, so screamed his Twitter bio), but he still couldn't help but regard the Tamina's presence and seemingly random conversation with him to be an answer to his unspoken prayer. There was no way AJ could avoid him if he went right up to her hotel room, and he definitely thought that was little miss Supafly's plan all along. He didn't care how obsessive it seemed to stake out her room, he needed to have a face to face conversation with her.

Hurrying past Kofi without a word, he rushed up to his room on the 5th floor to drop off his bags. He spent only a few moments in his room, staying just long enough to change out of his usual 'travel' uniform of comfortable, loose-fitting clothing. Slipping into jeans, a T-shirt and one of his many hoodies, he locked his room and made his way to the elevator to get to the 4th floor. Did elevators always move this slowly? Maybe this only happened in Scotland… or maybe it was his own perception of time that made it seem like this lift ride was taking forever. He bounced up and down on his heels impatiently, practically bounding through the doors when the damn thing finally stopped.

"422… 422…" he muttered nervously as he stalked up the empty hallway. He stopped in front of 421, the room right next to Tamina's. As he took a deep breath and raised his fist to the door, he suddenly wondered what her reaction would be to him inadvertently tracking down her room number. Would she yell at him and beg him to stay away, the way she had at the performance center on Wednesday? Would she freak out and call him a stalker, and shove him right out? There was only one way to find out.

"Hey!" he heard a voice call out to him from down the hall, before his knuckles hit the door. "Punk!" Groaning, he turned around to find the voice belonged to one of the last people he wanted or needed to see or talk to right now- Mr. Never Give Up, John Cena.

"Listen John, I'm busy," Punk sighed, turning back to the door. "I don't have time for this."

"Make time," John ordered. "This is important." The world heavyweight champion's rare tone of anger was enough to get Punk's attention. It generally took something serious to rattle the Cenation leader like this. He turned back to face John, half out of concern and half out of morbid curiosity.

"Alright, I'll bite," Punk announced dryly. "What?"

"I had a chat with Nikki the other day," John informed him brusquely, folding his arms. "She told me all the fucked up things your crazy little girlfriend AJ said about her to her sister on Wednesday, right in front of you, and you did nothing to stop it! You want to tell me what that's all about, Phil?"

Punk actually laughed raucously, he couldn't help it. What John had said to him was just so crazy, he could barely wrap his head around it. "Oh John Boy, you have no idea how wrong you are," he replied between gasps for air. "I think we need to backtrack a little. First of all, AJ isn't my girlfriend, so you can cross that shit off your list. Second, it's pretty obvious to me that you weren't told anything close to what actually happened that day. I bet Nikki didn't tell you about what happened before that, the 15 minutes she spent leading her petty group of clucking hens in a bullshit rumor-filled slam against AJ. They dragged her name through the mud and pretty much called her a home-wrecking whore."

"Well, is she?" John asked pointedly. "Haven't seen Amy on your arm in a few months but everyone with eyes has seen you and AJ bouncing around the country together."

Punk's cheeks heated up. He couldn't believe such a long-respected competitor was falling for this hook, line and sinker, too. "Oh, cut this bullshit out!" he snapped. "She's leading the hate train against AJ because of that hilariously brief and sloppy little romance angle they threw her in with you, and you know it. She kisses guys on screen, so she must be a slut, right? Give me a break, grow the fuck up!" His eyebrows narrowed, he was getting angry now.

"She had no right to claim Nikki's a golddigger," John growled. "That was out of line!"

"And so is her entire agenda on slamming AJ," Punk shot back. "You know Johnny, I never knew you to buy into the gossip train before. Does Bella Twin B carry your balls around in that purse of hers, too? Sends you to fight all her battles? 'Oh John, AJ said something mean about me!'" He mimicked Nikki in a cruel, exaggeratedly high-pitched voice. "'You have to do something about it! She hangs out with Punk all the time so they must be fucking, because she's a slut and he's a man whore! Go yell at him, baby!'"

John's shoulders rolled back, his chest puffing up. "You'd better watch your mouth," he warned.

"No, _you _watch _your _mouth!" Punk practically shouted. "I don't care what anyone says about me, nothing they could come up with on their best day could damage my career or image. But I'm tired of the TV Showgirl clique spreading lies about AJ, and I'm tired of people like you just helping it along! You worked with her, you know her. She isn't like that. She's a great girl and she doesn't deserve any of this, especially from someone who is supposed to have his head screwed on straight, like you!"

"I'm sure Amy would love to hear how highly you speak of her," John said coldly.

That was the straw that broke Punk. He was about to throw himself at the WWE's golden boy when a door two rooms down opened- 423. "That's enough!" came AJ's frantic cry as she burst out into the hallway and stepped between them. "Both of you, stop it!"

Punk's eyes widened nervously, both from finally being able to see her again and from the look on her face. It appeared as though she'd overheard the whole thing… much the way she'd overheard the Total Divas blasting her at the performance center. Before he could even open his mouth to explain the conversation, John had opened his. "You should stay out of this, AJ."

"Why?" she demanded. "It's about me, isn't it?" She turned her back to Punk, crossing her arms. "I don't know what Nikki told you about what I said, John, but you should know me well enough to know I wouldn't just attack someone like that for no reason. If you think she's above saying terrible things about me, then you must not know her as well as you think you do. Why don't you go have a word with Nattie? She was there, she heard every single word Nikki said."

John's features tensed for a moment before relaxing; Punk's did, too. The fleeting moment of rage had passed, and both of them were able to think with clearer heads now. "Yeah," John muttered, nodding slowly. "Yeah, I think I'll do that. I'll see you around, AJ." He glanced over her shoulder at the heavily tattooed man leaning back against the wall. "_Punk_." His lips popped with the emphasis he put on the P. He turned on his heel, turning the corner and disappearing from the hallway.

"Phew," AJ sighed with relief as she turned back to face Punk. "Glad that's over." She put her hands on her hips. "You were about to take his head off, weren't you? To defend me?"

There was no point in denying it. Punk nodded, his hands finding their way to his pockets. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears. In his rush to come see her, and with the sudden argument that erupted between himself and John in the hallway, he suddenly realized he had absolutely no idea what he was going to say to the WWE's black widow. For the first time in recent memory, he was speechless.

But AJ was staring straight at him with that shy, sheepish expression that sometimes inexplicably came over her when she was around him, one hand nervously grasping her wrist. "Why don't you come in?" she suggested finally. "I think we need to talk."

* * *

If Punk's heart was in his ears, AJ's was sitting like a rock in her stomach. She felt it churning with discomfort and nerves as she led him into her hotel room. Not even 10 minutes ago she had been planning how she was going to get through this entire European tour without crossing paths with Punk, no matter how painful it was to stay away from him. She couldn't stand the thoughts running through her head, the whispers in the back of her mind that claimed the accusations were right. Only a backstabbing slut would swoop in on her supposed childhood hero's very recent ex boyfriend, friend or not, right? She couldn't let everyone think she was successful and moving up the totem pole in the WWE just because of any "connections" or friendships she had. Even more so, she couldn't let them drag Punk's name through the mud with her. She wouldn't stand for any undeserving criticism heaped on his shoulders, especially if it was her fault. Separating herself from him was best for now.

At least, that was what she'd been thinking since Wednesday. But now after hearing him go to bat for her against the man who was arguably one of, if not _the _most powerful person (and definitely with the most pull around the corporate offices) on the roster with no regard to his own safety or standing… He didn't care about any of that, he just wanted to protect her from the viciousness. Now, she wasn't sure.

She turned back to Punk as he closed the door behind him, leaning back against it. "I was so worried when you rushed out on me on Wednesday," he said softly, his arms folded but not in an aggressive stance. "You didn't even let me talk. You just ran out and… disappeared on me. You wouldn't answer the phone, no matter how many messages I left." He laughed harshly. "I was starting to feel like a stalker."

"I know," she replied shamefully, her voice just as quiet as she stared back at him. It had only been days since she'd last seen him, but it felt like ages. He looked like he hadn't been sleeping much lately, either. The usual circles beneath his eyes were dark, and his hair looked even more unkempt than normal. Her absence had hit him harder than she could have expected. "I just couldn't be that girl." She fell silent.

"Be what girl?" he asked, pushing himself off the door to close the gap between them and sighing with exasperation. "I've been waiting for days to talk to you and get to the bottom of this. Please, just tell me what's going on. This isn't the April I know. Just tell me. What are you so afraid of?"

She bit her lip, knowing now that she couldn't just hide from him forever. Regardless of what anyone else said, she needed to give him an explanation. If nothing else, she owed him that much. "You," she admitted finally. "I'm afraid of you."

* * *

Punk was taken completely aback. "M-me?" he choked out incredulously. He actually glanced back over his shoulder at the door behind him as though making absolutely sure there was no one else in the room she could be talking about. "Why are you afraid of me, AJ? What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything," she assured him quickly. "And it's not really _you_. It's more like…" She inhaled sharply. "I'm afraid of… how I feel… about you." Her lower lip started to quiver. "I… don't even know how to explain it!" She ran a nervous, borderline frantic hand back through her hair. "When I'm with you, I don't feel afraid or alone. When I see you I feel like I'm 16 again, and I get butterflies and my hands heat up and I just know that everything's going to be ok because you're there, and you're going to put a smile on my face." She turned in a circle, covering her eyes for a moment. "God, I must sound so fucking stupid, like a little girl confessing a crush."

"You don't," he assured her, barely managing to get the words out. "I promise." Hearing her profess such feelings for him… it made his heart pound again, but this time it was back in his chest where it belonged, pumping heat into every vein. Suddenly everything that had been swimming around in his mind for the past couple of months was starting to make sense. Every fleeting bit of warmth that swirled around in his stomach when he laid eyes on her, the combination of ease and excitement when they talked, and the almost impossible comfort and familiarity he felt when she held his hand the night before his birthday, even though their hands had never touched that way before. Hearing her put it all into words, it was glaringly clear now, that he had to feel the same way. But something still bothered him. "But if you feel all of that… how could you just run out on me the way you did?"

"Because I didn't want to be that home-wrecking girl they all thought I was," she muttered. "I couldn't do that. And I couldn't let everyone think you left the longtime girlfriend that the whole world thought you were going to marry sometime for the new flavor of the month." She looked up at him, her voice gaining strength again as she spoke. "But when I heard you out there in the hallway, I realized… you don't care about what they think, do you? You don't care about any of them."

"No," he confirmed. "I don't. I care about you. You aren't a home wrecker, AJ. You and I know that isn't true, and that's what matters." He couldn't bring himself to admit it out loud, but deep down he felt as though she was the only person who cared to dig deep enough to bring him out of the dark hole he'd found himself in. Everyone else just saw a bitter wrestler, better to be left to his own devices to pick himself up out of that hole. But not her, she threw him a rope. And for that, he owed her everything. He reached for her hand, threading his thick, tattooed fingers through her delicate, slender ones.

"Perfect fit," she whispered almost imperceptibly, looking down at their joined hands.

"AJ," he said softly, "look at me." The thumb of his free hand tenderly brushed over her chin, tipping it up so her eyes could meet his. They were a shimmering, soft brown, illuminated by the sunlight streaming in through the beautiful Scottish city beneath the window.

"What does this mean then?" she asked him nervously. "You and me?"

"Whatever we want it to mean," he replied.

"I'm scared."

"So am I."

He cupped her cheek gently, his mouth hovering just an inch above hers. They'd kissed twice before, what felt like a lifetime ago, in front of thousands in packed arenas and on screen in front of millions. Back then, it had been nothing to either of them. It was merely acting, for entertainment. But this kiss was going to be different. It would be their kiss.

When he finally kissed her, he felt as though he was taking a breath for the first time in months. It was like a switch had flipped inside them, turning on feelings and passion both of them had hid from themselves and each other for months. He hit the corner of her mouth first, his chapped and chewed lips finding their way up her jaw line to meet hers of perfect bubblegum. She let out a slight, needy moan, her hand dropping from his to encircle his neck and bring her body tight against his. His own clammy palms, suddenly abandoned by hers, were at a loss. But they quickly moved almost of their own accord, locking around her lower back. Even with his head clouded, his body knew exactly what to do.

It felt like such a privilege to be able to touch her like this, he wanted to feel more of the lithe frame against him, so his hands didn't stay behind her back for long. He slid them slowly up her sides, the slight pressure of his palms against her ribcage moving her shirt up enough to expose a tantalizing strip of skin. "Oh," he heard her breathe against his chin. He let her break away just long enough for both of them to catch their breath, before capturing her mouth with his again in a passionate, drugging kiss. She leaned into him eagerly as his hands descended to her hips again, his thumbs hooking through the belt loops of her jeans and pulling her waist against his.

"Mm," she murmured against his lips. "Wait."

"What's wrong?" he whispered, pulling back to look at her. The tip of her nose brushed against his.

"I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves," she whispered back, her hands sliding down to rest on his chest. She looked up at him, drawing her tongue slowly over her lower lip. He could see it in her eyes, the fear behind the excitement. He was scared, too.

"Yeah," he said softly, nodding. "Maybe we are." He smiled at her, moving his hands to her shoulders and squeezing them comfortingly. "What do you say we go get coffee then? Try to shake off this jetlag?"

She smiled back at him. "Yeah," she replied. "That sounds great."

* * *

**Author's note: RunninOnCrazy is up next, thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

_As a huge fan of the WWE, what the girl was witnessing on the sidewalk across the street had to be the sight ever. It was like watching life imitate art beautifully, and she never thought these would be the two people she would see. Week after week, she'd heard the rumors swarming around the wrestling fan base that CM Punk had been spending his off time with AJ Lee. There was never any verbal confirmation of them being more than friends, but what she was seeing (and snapping discreet pictures on her phone of) might just prove those reports to be right._

_But before posting these new photos on Twitter, she had to think. She didn't want to be rude about this. It must be hard for them to spend quality time together, considering how much and how hard they worked, and how exposed their lives were to the public. Having a job that put them in a different city (or country in the case of this overseas tour) every week must cause them a great deal of loneliness and sadness. She was surprised they even had time to sneeze, let alone walk the streets and take a tour of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, but she couldn't blame two Americans for wanting to enjoy the rich medieval history of the town while spending time together. _

_As Punk's tattooed hand intertwined with AJ's hand, sipping his Starbucks and gazed down at her with a relaxed bright smile, her heart melted. He'd always seemed really standoffish and miserable to the fans, but with AJ giggling vibrantly enough to make a Royal British Guard crack a smirk, he looked so happy. The WWE universe needed to see this side of him. She might be doing it from across the street in a creepy fan like manner, but even a blind man would love to see that AJ and CM Punk were indeed an item. _

* * *

"AJ! AJ, can you hear me?"

_I'm dizzy, not deaf, _her mind screamed in a sarcastic tone, but her exhaustion overcame her again, and her head spun uncontrollably once Tamina sat her down. She watched the trainer flash a light across her sunken eyes for a better view, and once her blurry vision returned she could see people surrounding her with frowns of concern and fear in their eyes.

"How do you feel?" Tamina asked while patting her back for comfort.

_Embarrassed, _she thought. As she tried to speak, the lack of moisture from her throat to the tip of her tongue made it difficult and painful to her respond.

"What happened out there?" The voice belonged to Brian James, better known to the WWE Universe as Road Dogg. Once a much-loved competitor, he now functioned as a road agent for the current generation's crop of stars. He motioned for all of the talent surrounding AJ to move back, getting down to knee level in front of her and looking at her with a frown. "AJ, are you alright?"

"AJ!" came another cry. She looked up to see Punk fight through the crowd to kneel at her other side. He was eyeing her with something other than concern and worry, but she was too tired to make it out. She wasn't thinking of the other eyes on her now that he'd showed up. The touch of his hand resting comfortably on her back, gently moving the hair from in front of her face, made her relax.

"I don't even know what happened," Tamina spoke up suddenly. "I mean, after I tagged myself in, I noticed she was off the ropes, so Brie and I just went back in forth and I let her pin me."

"Did you hit your head?" Brian asked, watching AJ shake her head again.

"She wasn't in the ring for that long," Tamina answered for her, folding her arms and watching as Daniel, Nikki and John entered the room behind her. "She was off the ropes so I let Brie end the match."

"Have you eaten anything today?" the doctor asked. "Maybe anything unusual, something that would have made you sick?" He frowned, observing her skin tone. "You look pale."

"That would be normal for her," Nikki muttered, earning her an annoyed glance from Tamina.

"AJ?" Punk prompted. Running his hand back over her forehead, he noticed how little sweat he felt across her skin, the way she kept swallowing with a painful wince. "Are you thirsty?"

AJ's lips tightened, and she nodded slowly as she looked up at Punk with shame and hurt in her eyes. He didn't say anything else, but he removed the towel from the waistband of his pants and grabbed a bottle of water off the nearby table. He unscrewed the cap and poured some on the absorbent fabric, then dabbed the now moistened towel along the back of her neck. She sighed happily, enjoying the cool touch on her skin. She didn't even notice the curious glances from the rest of the talent around her.

"Is she dehydrated?" Brian asked, and the doctor nodded. "Well, can we get her monitored? She needs to be under observation for awhile."

"We can perform an EKG tonight, but what she really needs is to cool down and replenish any lost fluids," the doctor replied.

Brie entered the circle of onlookers last, sticking out her hand as AJ glared at her. But the Bella Twin 'B' didn't look annoyed or bothered, nor did she spit out a rude or snotty remark. She was holding out a bottle of Gatorade, a concerned expression on her face.

Before Punk could even speak or Tamina could get defensive, the future Mrs. Danielson scoffed. "What?" she asked. "When you're dehydrated, you need carbs and electrolytes. Gatorade has those. It works for me, so…" She waved the bottle out, waiting for one of them to take it.

AJ was awake enough to notice that the bottle was still sealed. The chances of one of those vile girls contaminating it with spit (or anti-freeze) were slim. So she nodded, taking the bottle and mouthing her thanks as Punk reached to open it for her.

"I'm so embarrassed," she muttered, hearing the people around her mutter in disagreement.

"Don't be," Daniel urged. "It happens to the best and worst of us."

John, who hadn't said a word to AJ or Punk since the heated exchange in the hotel halls a week prior, leaned over and handed Punk another towel. Punk accepted it, but kept his eyes on AJ. "It's been two grueling weeks for everyone," John said. "It's understandable if it didn't leave you time to eat or rest."

"What the hell?" Nikki spat in disbelief. "Why are you helping?"

"Because that's what nice people do, Nicole," Brie sighed quietly.

Nikki huffed in anger, watching AJ sip the Gatorade while Punk kept a watchful eye on her. "She looks fine to me now," she announced with a cruel chuckle. "She's gotten herself enough attention for the night, too. That's the only thing she hasn't had in a long time… and it looks like it made her thirsty."

Punk inhaled and exhaled deeply, likely because he was restraining the anger brewing inside him. For AJ's sake, he wasn't going to blow up at the catty diva, not with his best friend and new girlfriend falling ill. Even with a fellow competitor facing a medical scare, Nikki was still selfish and ill-mannered! AJ didn't expect anything less from her. At this point, she thought, the Total Divas star was clearly jealous of everyone supporting her division's champion, maybe even upset she didn't think to pass out first.

"Cut it out," Brie scolded. "Not tonight."

"Whatever," Nikki grumbled. "She's been homeless, right? I'm sure she's used to skipping a meal or two. She's not dying, so can we go now?"

"What the hell is your problem?" Tamina demanded.

As Punk stood up, ready to snap, another voice stopped him from verbally tearing into Nikki. "Hey. That was over the line." Everyone watched John Cena's expression grow serious as Nikki's fell in utter shock. It was clear he was caught between his loyalty to his girlfriend and his always-present desire to do the right thing. "We talked about this. Just relax, alright?"

"That was _really _fucking uncalled for," Punk growled, his lips twisted in disgust. It looked as though he was holding back from really letting loose. "You owe AJ an apology."

"Like hell I do!" Nikki scoffed. "I can't believe-"

"Stop it," Brie snapped, in a sudden and rare deviation from her sister. "Can't you just grow the hell up already? I'm over it!" She tapped her foot impatiently.

Nikki folded her arms, glancing around the room in utter disbelief. But her sister wasn't budging, and neither was her boyfriend. "Sorry," she spat insincerely, briefly locking eyes with AJ in a way that told the diva's champion that her apologetic gesture was forced. "That was rude."

"Oh, that was so meaningful!" Punk snapped, rolling his eyes and reaching to down to help AJ stand up. "Am I up yet?" He glanced over at Brian, who checked the time.

"Yeah," the other half of the New Age Outlaws confirmed. "You and Bryan need to be out by the stage, and AJ needs to be in the trainer's room."

"I'll stay with her," Tamina volunteered. "I guess we'll rest there until you come back."

Punk nodded at her thankfully and turned to AJ, who sighed lightly as he took her hand. "Relax, ok?"

"Give 'em hell," she muttered without a smile.

Before Punk walked away, he did what she never thought he would do. She'd never seen him do this backstage with Amy, or Beth, or any other woman he'd dated, she once joked to Kaitlyn that he seemed like the least publicly affectionate boyfriend in the world. But when his lips hit hers, however briefly, she didn't have a chance to stop it. His eyes closed and he inhaled deeply, meaning he was relieved to hear she would be fine and just wanted a good luck kiss. She didn't want to embarrass him by not responding, and it showed he wasn't ashamed to be with her.

She closed her eyes and accepted the light, warm kiss, her heart fluttering slightly. She wished it could last but he pulled away, pressing a small peck to her cheek before smiling. "I'll see you right after my match, alright?" It didn't sound like a question, even though he phrased it as one.

AJ nodded, her cheeks heating up as she watched him follow behind Daniel with a little bounce in his steps. She ignored the glares from the twins and look of confusion gracing John's face, turning slowly to walk away with Tamina by her side. Even though physically she felt terrible, she was walking on air.

She knew she would have some explaining to do if anyone passed around word of what they just witnessed (and she knew they would), but she didn't care. The only person who mattered just kissed her, right in front of everyone. She knew he was going to take good care of her and nurse her back to health. He was very good at that.

* * *

"Erica, I told you, I'm _fine_," AJ sighed. "I didn't have any issues when I was wrestling tonight… yes, I know people can have a stroke from dehydration, but I'm-" For the fourth time that night she winced and pulled the phone away from her ear as her sister broke into a burst of loud, angry Spanish. Punk snorted lightly in amusement as he closed the hotel room door behind them.

"Jesus Erica, I'm not anorexic and I'm not trying to be!" she cried during the first available pause. "I'm not going into this again ok? I love you, I'm just fine, and I'll see you on Wednesday. Blow Nacho a kiss for me." She giggled as Punk placed the bags on their bed. "I'm sure Punk will- no, I'm not saying that!" She rolled her eyes. "_Goodbye, _Erica."

"Saying what?" Punk chuckled, reaching for the phone. "No, Erica, don't hang up! Let's have a chat!"

AJ ducked out of Punk's arms with giggles escaping her lips, but her new boyfriend towered over her. He leaned over her and tried to grab the phone again, even as she shifted around in his grasp. The more she tried to pull away, the more he fought her on it, even lifting her up off the bed. He kept wrestling her, even long after the phone had rolled out of her hands and onto the floor.

"Say it!" he demanded playfully, his fingers trailing up along her hips and stomach as she shook her head in protest. "Come on, tell me! Tell me!"

"No!" she shouted back, pinching his ears. He groaned and pain and rolled onto his back. "I can't tell you. It's a sister's code of honor." She huffed.

He glanced up at her with a small smirk as he sat up, watching her run a hand through her hair. "I do respect codes of honor," he assured her, his hands landing on her hips. "I just wanted to let your sister know that you're fine and I'm going to take good care of you."

"I know," she sighed with a smile, glancing at the nightstand with a raised eyebrow. "What's all this?"

"Just some stuff for you," he explained. "I bought all the Gatorade they had left at the Quik-Stand outside. And some fruit, some snacks, some… fruit snacks." He tilted his head."Huh. I guess I didn't think that one through." Shrugging, he slid her legs off his lap and got up off the bed. "I thought we could just stay in while you rest up, maybe watch some weird British TV shows till we fall asleep."

"I thought you wanted to enjoy the last of the UK?" she asked, sounding slightly disappointed. "Are you sure just want to stay in tonight?"

"Positive." He pushed open the thick curtains in front of the window, revealing it was actually a door. He opened it, pointing out to the balcony with a grin. "Being a former champ has its perks."

"I bet it does," she agreed, getting up and joining him outside on the balcony. She looked down at the dimly lit, sleepy village town below them, inhaling deeply to take in the crisp air of the clear winter night. "It's really beautiful out here." She leaned against the railing, shivering slightly.

He picked up a throw blanket from the edge of the bed, wrapping it around her to make her more comfortable. She sighed happily, snuggling into the warm fleece. "I've seen a lot of beautiful things tonight," he announced as she relaxed back into his arms.

"Yeah?" she muttered as she looked out over the view. "Like the moon? The stars?"

"Nah, it was something else," he replied cagily. "More like watching this really energetic and pretty… naturally explosive woman…" She giggled as he rambled on. "Yeah, I watched her bounce back and give a great performance in the ring after not being able to the night before."

"Wow, that does sound beautiful," she chuckled. "She sounds really good."

He nodded. "I actually think she's smart and extremely unique," he continued. "But I knew she'd pull through because I have faith in her. And she's not good."

"No?" She frowned as he shook his head, slowly turning to her to face him.

He gently cupped her chin. "I think… no, I know she's amazing." She looked up at him with a shine in her eyes, and it made his smile grow even wider. He couldn't frown with her admiring him like that. It was like she was casting a spell on him. It not only made him comfortable and content, but excited. "That's why I don't understand how someone so smart and beautiful would skip eating when she's had a really hectic day." He watched her expression remain stern as he waited for an answer.

"Well, having eyes burn holes into your forehead while you're trying to eat has a way of making you lose your appetite," she explained. He groaned at the theory, sliding his arms back to let her shift into the loveseat. "She's just a complete bitch to me. I know why, but it's annoying!" Punk sat down next to her, arms folded as he waited for her to continue. "You had a signing and I wanted to get something to eat, but when I got there John and Nikki were sitting with Brie and Daniel. I didn't feel like dealing with her bullshit again, so I just grabbed a banana and left. It was the only thing I had that day besides coffee."

"I should have been there," he sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"That would have made it worse," she muttered. "Actually, you kissing me probably undid everything we've been denying, which is a reality now that we're together."

He blinked lightly at her, realizing that he did deny a relationship with AJ when John asked him about it. So much had changed in the week prior that he'd all but forgotten about that stupid war of words. "Shit… I was just in the moment, I guess. I was relieved. I thought you were sick, and I was really glad it something pretty minor. But I'm not sorry about kissing you in front of everyone."

"Good," she said with a broad smile. "Don't be sorry about that, ever. It made me feel so much better after how… what she said to me." She frowned again.

"She disrespected you," he said stiffly. "Out of nowhere, in fact."

"It's not like that," she sighed. "This is something that's been happening for months now. I think it's just starting to boil over now."

"Why, because of some forced storyline you had with John?" Punk asked, holding up his hand with a wince. "One that sucked by the way, and not because of you."

"Thanks for clearing that part up," she said, taking a sip of her Gatorade. "That's part of it, yeah. But since you're a man, I'll explain how women work in our business."

"You turn to educate me, huh?"

"Oh, don't feel bad, you were too busy trying to keep your belt, and earn balcony perks so I understand if you're out of the loop," she quipped with a wry smile. "Anyway, I think it started when I was 'run over' by Big Show and all of the fans started feeling sympathetic for poor little me. It was the start of me being in all the big storylines and I was starting become the new poster diva. I was pushed so far in one year, because I just… took the ball and ran with it, I guess."

"More than that, you knocked it out of the park," he argued. "You hit it so far, it hit a Benz in the parking lot." His teasing made her snort with laughter. "But alright then, why would they only start to be so pissed off now? They shouldn't be worried if the show is so great. Why is Nikki so catty with you?"

"Because she's a woman," she replied with a shrug. "Some of them, us, don't like to share the spotlight. It's pretty much a proven fact that women are threatened by the success of other women." She paused, pursing her lips for a moment. "Ok, you'll be the only person I'm telling this to, but… when they came up with the idea for the diva show, the first group they asked to be on it were me and Eve."

"Really?" he asked with a frown. "So you just… turned it down?"

"In a heartbeat. Eve had her heart set on leaving when she did, so they dropped that idea. Then Stephanie asked Nattie, Trinity and Ariane and they agreed almost as quickly as I shot it down. They kept waiting and waiting for me to change my mind but I kept refusing. It actually took a meeting with Vince for them to get the hint that I was going to do it. He tried his best convince me, but he finally let it go when I told him all the reasons why I didn't want to be on the show."

"Those reasons being what?" he prompted.

"Honestly, I don't want people knowing too much about me," she admitted. "When I'm in the ring or otherwise onscreen, I'm a character. They get what I give them, and everything else about me is a mystery. I've worked really hard making fans believe in AJ Lee and making them enjoy me as a character. All of that goes away if they can turn on the E network and see that I'm not actually the batshit skipping psychopath." She made a face. "Plus, I don't want all that exposure. Reality TV is awful and what I do during my off time is no one's business." She sighed, brushing her hair back with a wave of her hand. "I didn't join this company to be a model or a reality star. I want to wrestle, and that's it. When Vince heard me say it like that, he understood. It's kind of hard to tell when he likes anything or not, but I could tell he respected me for it. Stephanie said it would probably disappoint people… it took me a little while to realize she didn't mean fans. The other girls started treating me differently because they weren't asked to be on the show, and they would have jumped at the chance. Other officials were pissed because it meant they had to hire two new girls instead of one… John stopped speaking to me, and so did Nattie, and even Dolph was a little upset for awhile because me being on the show meant he would have been for awhile too, because we were together onscreen at the time."

"That sounds selfish," Punk pointed out.

"It is," she agreed. "But Vince let me work with the creative team a little after that, so I could get a title shot without being on the show. It annoyed everyone else even more, because the boss doesn't ask for opinions unless he really likes someone. It's like… he's an AJ Lee fan, and once the boss likes you… you're the poster child, and that's that."

"So they had you do that major promo," he acknowledged with a nod. "Makes sense." He grinned. "I mean, you did learn from the best, after all…"

"The best jerk, to say the least," she chuckled. "All did was defend myself… but it made the feud even better. What I didn't expect was everyone agreeing with me and loving what I had to say."

"You said what was on your mind AJ," he said. "If they can't see that for what it is, fuck them. Hell, I loved it. As my boy Cliff Compton would say… you buried them bitches." He winked.

Her laughter that followed made the mood light again. She shook her head, inching closer to him. "I don't really care anymore," she admitted flippantly. "They never really liked me in the first place, because I refused to be like them. I'm different and it works for me, so I've accepted that. All I know is that Nikki won't be completely satisfied until I'm stripped off my title and booted off TV. But that's not happening any time soon so I just have to deal with the high school drama until I retire or their stupid show gets cancelled. It's annoying to have to hear her bitch and moan whine, so I'll have to avoid it."

Punk titled his head as she looked away, feeling bad. "You think you lost a friend in John?" he asked.

"I know I did, but that's his choice," she replied. "At first I thought he was, because he loves the WWE as much as me. It made me feel like I could relate to him, but I was wrong. He's not my friend and I feel like an idiot for thinking so. I thought he was someone who would mentor me, and guide me in the right direction so I could last in this company. But someone else ended up doing that."

"Yeah? who?"

AJ looked up, and then flashed him a smile before saying, "oh, he's awesome. He's got years of indie stories to tell, a load of tattoos and a Wolverine beard that Batman would shave off."

He laughed loudly, beaming at her. "Come here, smart ass." He pulled her into his arms, settling her gently between his legs. She curled her knees and covered them both with the blanket, leaning her hands against his chest comfortably. "Do you mean that?"

"I only know one guy who loves Marvel more than I do, so surely I didn't steal that from a movie," she teased.

He kissed the top of her head before resting his chin on it. "Then you know I'm not going to go for that. You're not going to be the girl who eats in the bathroom stall or reads in the library during lunch. You get me and I get you. I'll keep mentoring you as long as I can. You're with me now, no matter what."

"You promise me?" AJ asked in a soft tone, moving so she could look at him one more time.

"If you trust me the way you have been, yes, I promise. I don't like letting the people I care about down. And at this point, it would be stupid of me not to include you in that faction."

AJ pressed her lips into a smile as he smirked back. "I do trust you," she said.

"Then I'm staying on your team, shorty," he assured her, pressing his forehead to hers. "I mean it."

"Thank you," she whispered. "So we're on each other's team, then…" She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before sitting back. Only a second later his lips landed on hers as expected. He sat up slowly, leaning forward and deepening their kiss. Soft moans slipped out of her lips, his hands falling to her hips. His fingers traced gently along the curve of her abdomen, ghosting along her skin.

"That feels amazing," she whispered as they broke apart.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Good thing we're hidden from my many fan girls up here. Wouldn't want them to catch us making out." He pulled her in again, his hands resting gently on her back.

The amount of heat brewing between them was hard to control, especially with a woman as beautiful as her this close to him. But with AJ, he had to keep his desires tamped down. She put her trust in him, so he had to respect her and be the good guy, no matter how sexy those curves of hers were, or how loose her sweatshirt was, how those leggings clung so perfectly to her hips… damn the smart pervert who invented them! She ran her fingertips over his ears, her eyes filled with admiration and glee. He could feel his heart pounding with excitement, but he could see how happy she was to just be here with him. He had to put her thoughts and feelings before his own.

As they enjoyed their final night in Europe together, they refused to be interrupted by the outside world. Punk never even heard his phone ring, and after the third time it did, the person trying desperately to reach him gave up and left a message.

_"Hey, Phil, it's me. Look… I know it's been awhile since we've talked. Weeks, months. I know you're probably busy overseas right now. But I really think we need to talk. I don't like the way our last conversation ended, and I just want to sit down and finish things. I need to know if this is it. I think we both owe each other that much. Kenz misses her dad, too. We both want to hear from you. I'll be waiting."_

* * *

**Author's note: Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long. The holidays make it hard to update! But we are back and things will hopefully be resuming a normal pace. This was a RunninOnCrazy chapter and Chaos will be back soon with another one. Happy reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

Punk wasn't prepared for how he would feel when he heard his ex girlfriend's voicemail.

He didn't find it until the next morning, having put his phone on silent the night before so he could enjoy an evening of quality time with AJ. She was still fast asleep when he awoke yawning and stretching, curled against him with her hair fanned out on the pillow beneath her head. Her slim fingertips barely poked out of the sleeves of his sweatshirt that she wore, he could only assume she'd snatched it from his bag at some point throughout the frigid night before. She squirmed beside him as he sat up and he let out a soft chuckle, reaching over to the bedside table to grab his phone. He had the usual amount of drunk texts from Fandango (which didn't surprise him), a blurry picture message of a pretty girl from Zack Ryder, and a few missed calls with an accompanying voicemail.

He frowned down at the missed call, rubbing his forehead anxiously. It didn't register in his contact list, but he would recognize that number anywhere (even though he'd long since deleted it from his phone to remove the temptation to call it). Why did she have to call him, now, months later, when he was finally healing and moving on with his life? This was how it always happened, didn't it, just when he was starting to pull himself away, she would reel him back in. If he had an ounce of sense left in the skull he'd once cracked open, he would have deleted that voicemail and moved on with his morning. But what he did instead was queue up the message, and listen.

He put the phone down with a heavy sigh. It had been months since that low, heady voice teased his ears. He'd last heard it in an angry cry, trailing after him as he slammed the door to her Georgia home behind him and drove off without looking back. He wasn't a fan of messy break ups (who was?) and hadn't been his intention for the relationship to end that way. Often during his times of loneliness he'd lay awake at night, wishing things could have gone differently. There was no point in wishing and hoping like that, he and Amy were over (for the second time) and there was no changing how it ended. But she wanted to meet with him, to talk things through the way they never had. Maybe there was a chance now for that closure he'd never gotten, sitting right there in that voicemail.

Suddenly, Punk felt a twinge of pain and guilt. How could he think like that, with AJ sleeping only inches away from him? She had been so kind and patient with him, pulling him out of his self imposed darkness and showing him it was ok to enjoy life again, even in the face of the emotional anguish that threatened to consume him. How could he even begin to think of revisiting his feelings with his ex girlfriend (even if it was just an attempt to close the book on them for good), after all the happiness his new girlfriend had brought him only two short weeks into their relationship?

The groan he let out must have been louder than he intended it to be, because the noise caused AJ to begin shifting beside him. "Mm, Punk?" she murmured, her voice still heavy with sleep. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her hair was tangled in a sleepy halo around her head. "Is everything ok?"

He bit his lip lightly, carefully regarding his answer. "Yeah," he assured her finally, pasting a casual smile on his face. "Everything's fine." He chuckled, tugging at the sweatshirt. "Warm enough?"

"Oh, sorry," she giggled. "I sort of took it in the middle of the night when you were hogging the blanket."

"Sounds like I'm the one who should apologize," he said. "Sorry, I didn't know I was a blanket thief."

She smiled at him. "That's ok. It was kind of cute the way you bundled yourself up." She yawned, stretching her arms high above her head. "When's our flight?"

He glanced down at his phone. "Not too far off from now," he answered. "We should get going soon."

"Alright." She leaned over to give him a soft kiss, her mouth sliding along the rough stubble on his cheek to finally reach their destination on his lips. Then she sprang out of bed and headed to the bathroom, the bounce in her step carrying a level of energy he could never hope to match this early in the morning. He found a small smile spreading over his face, his fingertips coming up to his lips to try to get a sense of the tingling feeling her kiss had left behind. She really did know how to light up his mood, and it had only taken a smile and a good morning kiss to do it.

But as he lay back and waited for her to free up the bathroom, his eyes were glued to the voicemail notification on his phone. A single thought crossed his mind- Smackdown was in Atlanta next week.

* * *

For the most part, Europe had been a fun, breath of fresh air for AJ (aside from her brief fainting spell and a few setbacks with Nikki), but she was glad to be home in America. Things were on the right side of the road again and, for the most part, she didn't have to worry about any language or dialect barriers. The first day back was borderline torture, as her body wasn't used to sleeping at this time anymore (or in this bed, even though it was hers). She would wake several times throughout the night, feeling hungry at odd hours. This being only her second overseas tour it took her about 48 hours to fully shake free of the sluggish feeling transatlantic travel gave her.

But it didn't take her anywhere near that long to notice that Punk's strange, withdrawn behavior was starting to take hold again. At first, she chalked it up to the same jet lag that made her own mind foggy for a little while. She didn't think even someone with so many European trips under their belt could bounce back right away. He needed time, she decided, just like she did. He was still her same Punk for the most part… or at least she thought he was. By the time RAW in Tennessee rolled around she was back to her usual self, waking easily in their hotel room that morning… but Punk didn't. He rose with some difficulty, sitting up with a loud sigh and almost painfully rubbing his eyes. His hair stuck up at odd angles, like he'd been tossing and turning for most of the night. If AJ didn't know any better, she might even think he was struck with a hangover.

"Are you ok, baby?" she asked him with a slight frown as she crossed the room, filling up the coffee maker with water and turning it on. "You aren't getting sick, are you?"

Punk glanced at her as he yawned. "No," he assured her with a shake of his head.

She was silent for a moment, as was he, the only noise in the room the rumbling of the coffee maker in front of her. She watched the steaming black liquid pour into the pot, weighing her options of confronting him. Clearly, something was wrong. Sure, she could brush it off as just a bad morning, everyone had bad mornings. But how many bad mornings in a row could someone have before she needed to step in and try to figure everything out? She wondered if she even had the right to do that.

_Fuck that, of course I do, _she thought. _I'm his girlfriend now. It's my job to figure out what's going on with him and try to fix it if I can. _

When the coffee was done she poured herself a cup, then sat cross-legged before him on the bed. "Hey," she said, nudging his leg with her knee as she took a sip. "What's going on with you?"

"Huh?" Punk muttered distractedly, looking up from his lap. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I didn't ask you if you were fine," she pointed out. "I asked you what was going on."

"Oh." He chuckled. "Sorry. I guess I'm just still pretty tired."

"No, this isn't tired!" she protested, taking another long sip and reaching over to put her coffee mug down on one of the bedside tables. "You've been all moody and sulking again since we got back from Europe and I don't know why." She scooted over on the bed, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Please talk to me. We did all that talking and heart pouring when we were upset _before _we started dating, and now that we _are _dating, you're just shutting down!" She tilted her chin on his shoulder to look up at him, her eyes silently begging him for the truth.

"April..." He sighed. "It's complicated."

"If I couldn't deal with complicated, I doubt I could deal with you at all," she told him. "Just tell me what's going on with you! Let me help."

"You have to promise not to give me one of those crazy chick slaps you're so well known for," he warned her teasingly, but she wasn't having any of it. She sat up and glared at him, folding her arms impatiently. "Alright, alright." He took a deep breath. "The morning we left England… I got a voicemail. From Amy."

AJ felt her chest tighten, her whole body stiffening nervously as she stared at him with her mouth slightly agape. "Amy?" she echoed, her mouth becoming dry. "What did she want? What did she say?"

"She wants to see me," he explained. "To finish things, I guess."

"You're kidding," she said slowly. "To finish things?"

"Yeah," he replied with a small nod. "She said she didn't like how our last conversation ended, and I don't blame her, because neither do I. It was screaming, yelling and a slammed door. We haven't spoken since. I guess she just wants… closure. In a way, so do I."

"Closure!" she echoed with an incredulous laugh. "That's just…" She shook her head, she couldn't believe it. It all made sense now, his sketchy behavior since that final morning in Europe.. Although she had no delusions about Punk being completely over one of the WWE's most prolific women's champions of all time when he started dating AJ only a short time ago, she didn't know Amy would still have this tight of a hold. Apparently just hearing his ex's voice in that short, simple voicemail had the ability to turn his insides upside down again. And with that power she had over him came AJ's fears.

AJ felt herself being filled with the worries and inadequacies that plagued her for a long time, back when her relationship with Punk only extended as far as a budding friendship and a crush. How could she ever measure up to the beautiful, confident, world traveled punk rock chick that seemed like she was everything Punk could ever want in a woman? She herself was young and inexperienced, practically a kid as far as the rest of the roster was concerned. She had one serious relationship and one big farce under her belt, nothing in the way of Punk's long list of conquests. Amy was ready for a man like him and suddenly, as AJ thought about it, she wasn't so sure she could pull him back to her if Amy was willing to extend the olive branch to him and try their relationship again.

"I don't think you should go," she announced finally, her arms crossed.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Why not?" He paused for a moment, staring at her carefully. "You're not afraid I'm gonna go running back to her, are you?"

She sighed, there was no point in hiding that part. "Kind of," she admitted, her gaze skittering away from his. "You've only been with me for a few weeks, you were with her forever!"

"That doesn't mean I would just up and leave you," he assured her. "I'm with _you_, AJ. It's not my intention to talk to her and try to fix things. I just want to clear the air, that's all."

But another fear arose too, and this one didn't come from a place of selfishness or worry about their relationship. She remembered what happened to Punk after his final conversation with Amy (even if she didn't find out the reason behind it until much later), and the result had been pretty disastrous. "Do you really think that's a good idea?" she asked him nervously.

"Yeah," he replied honestly. "I do. I think it would be good not to have that hanging over me anymore."

"But you have no idea what's going to happen!" she exclaimed, scrambling off the bed to pace the room. "Do you even remember what the last few months of your life have been like? You've been angry and moody and upset and antisocial and it was all because of your break up! How do you know this little meeting is going to make you feel any better? It's just as likely, if not more so, that trying to sit down and talk with her is just going to stir up old feelings and make you depressed again!"

"I think you're overreacting," he said flatly. "I'm just going to-"

"I'm not overreacting!" she snapped, cutting him off. "How would you feel if Jay called me up and wanted to sit down and discuss what went wrong with our relationship?"

"That's different," he huffed. "You guys ended on decent terms. Me and Amy didn't. We-"

"Oh stop, that's not even what I'm worried about the most," she sighed. "I'm scared for _you_. Do you have any idea how scary it was just watching you waste away like that?" She unconsciously wiped a few tears away that she hadn't even noticed rolled down her cheeks. "I can't watch you go back to that!"

"AJ, come on," Punk lamented with a slight groan. "It's not that big of a deal, really. I'm gonna be fine, we're gonna be fine, everything's gonna be fine, I promise. Smackdown is in Atlanta tomorrow, so we're just gonna meet up and talk a few things out. I'll be back in time for lunch." He offered her a small smile.

She just shook her head a few times, wiping her eyes again. "You know, Phil, I can't control you and I'm not even going to try," she said softly. She grabbed her coffee cup off the bedside table and drained the rest of it. "I just want you to know that I think it's a really bad idea, and I wish you wouldn't go."

* * *

After their argument that morning, Punk wasn't surprised that AJ was a little cold to him. Almost In a way, he didn't blame her. She'd been right when she brought up what his reaction would have been had she announced she was going to clear the air with _her _ex. He likely would have put his foot down, he wouldn't have stood for it, and demanded she not go. It was just another reason why he cared about her so much, she was willing to let him make his own decisions no matter how much she disagreed with them. He only wished she understood that.

As soon as they arrived at the arena for RAW AJ ran off to find Kaitlyn, keeping her distance from him for the rest of the day. Punk didn't see her when he went to work out with Kofi, or when he watched Fandango practice his dance entrance with Summer Rae, or at lunch or even dinner. They didn't reunite until well after RAW ended, when Punk stalked the halls of the rapidly clearing arena in search of her. He was anxious to find her and get going before it got too much later, they had a long journey to Atlanta tonight and Kofi already told him he was riding with Fandango and Summer Rae. He ended up running almost straight into Kaitlyn, who was on her way out with Big E.

"Hey, I'm looking for-" he began.

"Brown hair, comes up to about my waist, 110 lbs. on a fat day?" E cut him off helpfully.

"Yeah," Punk replied. "Do either of you know where she is?"

"Haven't seen her in awhile," Kaitlyn answered cagily.

Punk sighed, rubbing his eyes for a moment. "So you know."

"I'm the best friend," she reminded him. "Of course I know." And it was clear she wasn't happy about it. But he could tell she cared and she wasn't going to try to get in the way. "I was in the girls locker room earlier and her bag wasn't there, so she's probably waiting by your bus."

"Thanks." Punk nodded gratefully to both of them before taking off to the parking lot, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder as he weaved around production trucks and crew members to find his way to his nondescript near the back of the lot. He spotted his driver coming back from the vending machines with a bottle of Coke and a handful of packets of M&Ms. "Hey, is AJ on there?"

The driver nodded. "I let her on when I left to go inside. Hope you don't mind."

"No, of course not," he said with a shake of his head. "Thanks." He got out his keys to let himself inside, jogging up the steps and glancing around the narrow room. "AJ? You in here?"

"Back here," she called from the bedroom.

He was relieved to find her lounging on his bed, one leg curled under her and glasses perched carefully on her face as she read a thick book on Spiderman anthology. He sighed softly, rolling his shoulder back to allow his bag to slide down his arm and land on the floor. "I haven't seen you all day," he said.

"Yeah," she said quietly, not looking up. "I know." She fell silent for a moment, presumably finishing the rest of the page she was on before putting in a bookmark snapping the book shut. She put it down next to her, crossing her legs and looking up at him. "I guess tomorrow's your big day, isn't it?"

"Come on, please don't be like this," he begged her, leaning back against the wall. "Nothing's going to happen April, I promise. Don't you trust me?"

"Yes," she admitted, "but that doesn't mean I don't worry."

He turned away, slipping off his shoes and his jeans and changing into a comfortable pair of shorts. Then he sat next to her on the edge of the bed, sliding his arm around her shoulder. "Hey," he said, prodding her lightly in the ribs with his index finger. "Everything's going to be ok. I'm coming back to you, alright?"

"Yeah," she muttered. "I hope so." When he pressed a soft kiss to her lips, she barely returned it.

* * *

It was just a nondescript coffee shop not too far from Amy's place. That was where a short exchange of text messages earlier that morning had led them to agree on. Punk hadn't wanted to meet at her house (too personal) or at any of their usual old haunts they'd frequented whenever he was in town (too many memories, good and bad). It didn't help that they were both local celebrities around here, and that people were sometimes on the lookout for the famous couple. That was why he chose here. It was public enough that neither of them could be tempted to try anything, but out of the way enough that they would have the privacy they needed to talk things out once and for all.

He pulled up the hood of his jacket as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It was unusually cold out for the area, wind whipping past him rather viciously. Perhaps mirroring how he'd been feeling lately. Sighing, he glanced down at his phone to check the time. It was nearly 10:30, she'd be here soon. But before he relocked his phone and put it back in his pocket, he stared down at his background photo and an unabashed smile spread over his face. AJ's cheek was pressed lightly against his, and they wore matching broad grins. He remembered when she took that photo.

_"If you eat that sundae, you better not back out of eating the cupcakes," Natalie warned._

_"Yeah, they're pretty awesome," Colt added. "I've seen them. She even made special icing."_

_"Mine has a little guitar on it," Lars announced proudly._

_"Does Colt's say 'asshole'?" Punk asked with a grin. "Because if it doesn't then it's wrong. Relax, it seems like you guys have forgotten how large my… stomach is." He winked and chuckled. "I'll just finish this off and we'll head back to my apartment ok?" He looked down at the free birthday sundae the restaurant had provided, his spoon hovering over it. Glancing at AJ next to him, he offered her a small smile. Having never met most of his friends outside wrestling, he was almost a little surprised at how well she'd managed to get along with them. She'd held her own so far, and he was glad she was here._

_But as he prepared to dig into the dessert, he was suddenly overcome with an acute sadness that gripped him. Last year on his birthday, it had been Amy sitting next to him, at this very restaurant in fact. She'd been holding onto his arm, smiling warmly at him as he blew out the candles on the cake Natalie baked him that year. How simple things had seemed on his 34th birthday…_

_AJ must have noticed his slight frown, because she tilted her head at him. "Hey, what's wrong?" Then, an idea coming to her, she grinned. "Let's put a smile on that face." Grabbing another spoon she dipped it into the mountain of whipped cream on top of the sundae, then bent it back to flick it right at him. The glob landed right in his hair and the whole table fell silent… until Punk began to howl with laughter. He laughed so hard he had to clutch his stomach, his somber memory fading into obscurity as the whipped cream began to drip down his forehead._

_The rest of their dinner gang began laughing as well, Colt discreetly reaching over and snatching Punk's phone right out of his hand. "Say cheese!" he ordered._

_AJ pressed her smooth cheek against his stubble covered one, the whipped cream rapidly making its way down his face beginning to stick to her skin as well. The flash that went off as Colt took the picture momentarily blinded them both, but it was well worth it. "There," AJ chuckled as she leaned back. "Now you'll always have a picture to back up the story of how you got those scars." She winked and prodded at his cheek, drawing her finger back to lick the whipped cream off it._

_"I don't think whipped cream leaves scars," Colt jeered between fits of laughter._

_"Shut up, you're ruining my quote spree!" AJ giggled. _

_Punk just shook his head good naturedly as his cream covered hair began drooping in front of his face, listening to his friends trade verbal blows. It had been a great birthday night so far, and it was just going to get even better. He had AJ to thank for that. Without her, he would be sitting in some hotel room watching mindless television all night. This girl, she was something else._

It was only then, as Punk recalled that sweet memory from the night of his birthday, that he realized he didn't need this 'closure' with Amy after all. He didn't need to grasp at straws and reopen old wounds with her, that chapter of his life was closed and done with. No, he had everything he needed with the spunky little nerd who was waiting for him back at the arena.

He stood up from his chair, pushing it in. Walking away from this coffee shop was going to mean walking away from Amy forever… but he was ok with that now, because he had something more important, someone who he needed to make things up to now. He turned his back on the place and hurried out to the rental car he borrowed from Kofi and Fandango.

It took him only 15 minutes (after breaking a few traffic laws and speed limits) to reach the arena, and 15 more to drop off the keys to Kofi and find AJ at catering, where she sat eating breakfast with Kaitlyn and Big E. "You're early," she said, lowering a half eaten bagel from her mouth and putting it down.

"We need to talk," he urged, beckoning her over to a more secluded area, and she followed him.

"That must have gone pretty quickly," she said softly. "What did she-"

"I didn't go," he blurted out.

"You… you didn't?" She frowned.

"I went but… I didn't stay," he explained. "I left before she got there." He shook his head, his hands spread out. "I couldn't do it baby. I don't want to see her, I don't need to see her, or to talk about any old history or anything like that with her. I need… I need you."

Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked up at him with a look of acceptance and admiration. "Oh, baby," she whispered. She ran to him, jumping up to grab him with her legs around his waist. He hugged her back, holding her close against him in a loving embrace. He was right, she was what he needed.

* * *

**Author's note: Hey guys, MyChaosTheory here. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, handing it off to RunninOnCrazy now!  
**


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